Maid of the Pandemonium
by Thepingman
Summary: AU. Taylor Hebert died in the locker. Her soul get flung across the multiverses and landed in the demonic world of Makai. Revived by the creator of that world, Taylor now must learn how to become A Perfect and Elegant Maid under guidance of her sword-throwing senior to serve her mistress as per agreement of her revival. Cross-post with SB.
1. Chapter 1

Foreword: This story has been cross-posted with the Spacebattles thread I posted there. The updates will not be constant due to Real Life works.

One thing that I have to keep in mind is that 100% approval rating doesn't exist, so I won't try to write a story that can please everyone. I'll write the story and the plot the way I like. The criticism is all right as long as it's within reason. And please, discuss things like a gentleman with no swearing if possible.

Disclaimers: Touhou project and Worms belong to their respective owners.

Synopsis:Taylor Hebert, once again, get locked in her locker as per the classic and overused scene. But unlike other Alternate Power fanfic, she died for real. Now her soul was flung back across space and time to the Land of Demon in an alternate universe far far away, where she accepted a deal for a second chance at life in exchange for eternal servitude under the Goddess of said Demon Land. Now, She has to learn how to become a Perfect and Elegant Maid from her sword-throwing senior while dealing with shenanigans that will befall the land of non-human on regular basis, while looking for some closure of her previous life's death, the problem just has to get said Goddess to agree first.

**Maid of the Pandemonium**

**Chapter 1**

[Agreement…]

[Traject…]

[Error… Host cease function…]

[Reconstruction…]

[Error, reconstruction failed…]

[Relocation protocol initiate… Executing…]

* * *

The first thing Taylor Hebert noticed when her consciousness returned was the feeling of weightlessness and darkness that surrounded her. No matter how she tried to swing her arms or kick her legs, she felt that she wasn't moving anywhere, or rather, she couldn't feel her appendages at all, which added further to the panic in her mind.

'Where am I? What happened?'

As soon as the questions sprung up, the headache assaulted her as memories flooded back in full, while her intangible mouth opens wide to let out a soundless scream.

…Emma…. Sophia… Madison…

…Betrayal… Bullies… Locker… Smell… Bugs… No Way Out…

"-There, there, let it out… child… do not keep all those feeling bottle up…-"

Her metaphorical eyes couldn't see, her ears couldn't hear, but somehow, the strange, womanly voice registered directly in her mind, which made her shut her mouth in surprise and flailed around futilely for a moment while trying to ask the mysterious voice questions.

"-I wish I could explain more, child, you being here piqued my interest as much as well…-"

Taylor confused by that statement, but before she could inquire further, the voice in her head cut her off, laced with the seriousness that made the content chilled her even more.

"-…To be specific, a soul cannot exist in the physical world without a body, most should've lost their sense of self, disperse into nothingness when left alone this long.-"

"I… died?" The dreaded question came to the forefront of her mind. Which brought the memory of the last moment of her life before 'waking up' here up yet again to hammer it home. Despite not being a religious person, Taylor's gut feeling, for some unexplainable reason, was all but screaming at her that what the voice told her was the truth.

"-Normally, souls that left expired bodies should be taken to proper afterlife jurisdiction, but in your case, it's a bit complicated…-"

"Complicated?" despite the distress of learning that she died, Taylor wondered if incompetency is a defining trait of bureaucracy, as it seems even in afterlife, hell, heaven, or wherever she's going to end up going soon was not so much different than Winslow staffs judging by where this conversation is going.

"-Indeed, your soul has jumped too far away from your home universe, you see. So you kind of do not exactly exist in this part of afterlife registration and left to wander the world, for now.-"

The voice caught Taylor off-guard; she didn't expect that explanation at all. But who could blame her? No religion on Earth Bet ever taught anyone that each alternate world has its afterlife realm after all.

Taylor wondered if that was a good or bad thing; on one hand it seems that she was essentially an illegal immigrant from Earth Bet, landed on some alternate world after she died, so she was flying under the radar of Grim Reaper or Hades or whoever in charge of the afterlife as they didn't know she existed at the moment. But on the other hand, she doubted that they'd be pleased when they eventually noticed her. She wondered what the punishment would be.

The voice, again, detected her thought, and so chimed in "-You're worrying too much, child. Shinigami… I mean Grim Reapers, are busy cleaning up the mortal world at the moment. And they'll have their hands full for a while since my realm isn't strongly connected to them, the only way they'll know of you quickly is I inform the celestials in charge…-"

Taylor couldn't help but noticed some displeasure in the mysterious voice regarding 'souls spilling over' but before she could give it any more thought, the voice continued "-Of course, I'm displeased, but then again, immortals are few and far between, sometimes disaster strikes, but as the world is still quite forgiving, it's not a thing that happens frequently… sorry for my rambling.-"

Taylor recoiled at the voice of displeasure before the voice reassured her "-I'm not angry at you, child, you have no control over where you'll end up after death after all, but now…-"

The voice 'straightened' herself and spoke up more seriously "-We've had enough chitchat; So let's get down to business, child. Since you're not native to this realm nor from the mortal realm of this universe, I can bring you back to life without repercussion from the local celestial.-"

That gave Taylor a pause and commented in her mind "I sense a 'but' here."

"-Perceptive, while I'm intrigued by your home dimension's so-called Parahuman and many things, that's irrelevant here, what _is_ relevant is that you'll become a denizen of my realm, my world, no superheroes or supervillains here, and you also cannot go home again for a long, long time…-"

Before Taylor could voice her complaints, the voice interrupted her "-I knew what you're thinking; I'm separating you from living family that you care about, but not receiving any care back.-" that hurt, but surprise drowned out her anger and fear at the voice taking a peek at her memory, and of course, the voice knows it too and her voice seemed to take on a more gentle tone "-But your body should effectively beyond salvage by now, so I fear that you returning there would only make thing worse, assuming that I can find the exact dimension to return you to before you're snatched up by celestials here.-"

Taylor kind of forgot that alternate dimension were a thing since the discovery of Earth Aleph, and that there were more alternate dimensions than she could shake a stick at if those professors on TV shows were to be believed. Still, she was skeptical that if the owner of this mysterious voice could communicate with souls and resurrect the dead, why could she not find her home? It should be a child's play for being of such power after all.

"-For your information; searching for the dimension your Earth Bet and all its iterations reside in isn't the same power set as bestowing life or creation of new realm, child.-"

And of course, the voice reminded Taylor yet again that she was still inside her mind, or her soul, and hear everything she thought. Though she was surprisingly calm at the implication of the voice's claims. Was it another perk of being dead or having a godlike being inside her head?

"-Goddess, dear child, but that's beside the point.-" the voice that chided her filled with mirth "-Your suspicion does your credits, given what I saw in your memories, but now this's not the time. Another important thing I have to inform you is; if I resurrect you, you'll be bound to my servitude forever. Your soul will be mine, and in return, I shall grant you the chance to live the life you had been deprived of once more.-"

"Why?" Taylor asked "Why are you asking that? Why not simply resurrect me?" 'without my input and forcing me to obey you forever' was the question she left unsaid.

"-You deserve a choice, child…-" The voice replied without hesitation, but with a tinge of sadness as if moved by misery that was Taylor's life "-especially when the only way to help you without backlash coming back to bite both of us down the line is putting you under my servitude as a form of resurrection. That's the least I can do. Tell me when you have make up your mind, child.-"

The voice then went silent, giving her time to think, or so Taylor thought. Thus she began to ponder her options or lack thereof.

Dying and moving on to the afterlife wouldn't even let her see her mother, as they were on different Earth and thus, different afterlife realms from what the voice told her. She'd still be alone… again… until the cycle of death and rebirth took her to wherever the celestials deemed fit for her deeds during her short 15 years life, erasing her memories to create a blank slate, a fresh start. Hey, her family had never been religious didn't mean she never read a Bible or other Holy texts that talked about the cycle of death, rebirth or enlightenment after all.

But another option was to take up the voice's offer and bind herself to the voice's servitude forever, which again, would not let her see her dad or loved ones again, provided that something didn't happen to him while she stuck here, as she didn't know how much time has passed since she died. Months? years? decades?

Steeling herself, Taylor uttered her decision, "I want to live again." When the voice didn't reply, she repeated, "Dying now mean there's nothing left. Even if you cannot return me to Earth Bet, even when your only way of bringing me back to life involves me becoming your slave, I'm still alive and will be able to create new memories, new life."

Taylor paused for a moment, before saying, "And I believe that you're sincere in trying to help me, telling me all the consequences of bringing me back without lying or downplaying it. That… means a lot…" 'a lot better than Winslow staffs' empty promises' she noted in her mind.

The voice stayed silent as if contemplating the response. But finally, before she felt that all this was her mind playing tricks with her, the voice spoke up again "-You put thoughts in your decision, I can respect that. Very well… prepare yourself…-"

Taylor felt like cold winds has wrapped around her (corporeal) body, chilling her. Her mind slowly succumbed to the drowsiness creeping in while the mysterious voice intoned in a language she couldn't understand. Then, a blinding light engulfed her and she knew no more.

* * *

Taylor awoke with a gasp. Her lungs felt like they were on fire with the first few rasping breaths she took. Her throat felt raw and dry, preventing her from making any noise. Her limbs felt like they had tons of lead strapped to them and refused to lift. Her eyes filled with tears that made vision blur. And most importantly she felt like her body was on fire!

She didn't know how long she screamed before the pain faded; but once it did, she blinked tear in her eyes away. While she couldn't get up from whatever she was resting upon, at least she could finally see again;

Craning her stiffened neck slightly, Taylor took note of her surroundings; She was in some sort of room made of apparent crystal blue bricks. The room was bereft of any decoration and furniture save for some sort of bed made out of the same material as the wall she was lying on. On it was slowly fading lines of red light etched into the strange pattern that she couldn't discern due to position.

It took Taylor longer still before she could twitch her fingers, one by one, followed by lifting her arms shakily. The pain was completely gone by now, and she felt her strength returning by the minute. And soon, she finally sat up, surveying the place she was in.

The room she was in was as bare as her first saw, save for the strange… tomb-thing she was sitting on and the double door made out of crystalline material that glowed with faint green light behind her providing the light that barely lit up the room. Besides those, there was nothing to clue her in on her whereabouts, not even a piece of paper lying around.

And then Taylor noticed something she overlooked for the past few minutes of consciousness; first was a pair of glasses she wore were absent but didn't diminish her vision in the slightest. It was like whatever happened fixed her eyesight issue as well. Which allowed her to took in the second details from the reflective blue crystal floor when she looked down and saw her reflection;

Gone was her baggy, unassuming dark-colored hoodies and jeans, now she was wearing a black and white frilly maid outfit with sleeves that reached her wrists and skirts that covered half her lower legs. There was also a white frilly maid headband with side tie blue ribbons placed on her head and a metal collar with chain hanging a silvery cross-like object on her neck. And if the warm sensation of her legs didn't lie, then she'd find a pair of bloomers or a pair of rather puffy shorts under her skirt on top of those black leggings that reached her feet as well.

'At least my face and body still roughly the same shape.' She thought as brought her hands to touched various parts of her body and confirmed that she was still the same wide-mouth, rail-thin Taylor Hebert. However, her inspection was interrupted when the glowing door creaked open and the sound of footsteps draws her attention toward it and the newcomer.

"Ah, good, you're awake, just as Milady said you would." The newcomer turned out to be a rather young blonde-haired woman in red and white maid outfit contrasting Taylor's black and white. Her golden eyes fixed on Taylor's form with a calculating look, while her hands clasped over her apron as she approached.

Taylor got on her feet while nervously watching the blonde maid in red scrutinize her. Although the memories of her hell on Earth and useless authority in the past two years still fresh in her mind and subconsciously telling her to get away from here, Taylor tried her hardest to clamped down that thought; she was in an unfamiliar place with no way out except going past the blonde maid. She had no superpower, no equipment to rely upon, and while this place was relatively warm, nothing promise that outside will be the same.

"Miss Hebert, may I hold your hand please?"

Not to mention that this woman was polite and non-threatening. After staring at her golden eyes for a moment, Taylor reluctantly held out her hands and let the woman took it.

Faint blue glow enveloped two of them the instant Taylor's hand was in her grasp. Taylor almost panicked had the woman not whispered at her to calm down. But even then, she couldn't help but ask; "What is this?"

"It's a simple analysis spell, Miss Hebert." The woman replied with even tone, while not taking an eye off her hand.

A moment later she released her hold, while Taylor held her hand up to her eyes level and examined it before asking the woman "You're a healer cape? I mean, parahuman?"

"Cape? Parahuman?" the woman repeated, before shaking her head slightly "I know not what your definition of 'cape' or 'parahuman' means. Though from your tone, I guess it's not about an article of clothing or normal human, correct?" Seeing Taylor nodded, she continued "Then let me assure you that I'm exactly what you see; I'm a maid, serving Milady who resides in this Pandemonium Castle of Makai as its ruler; A position that you'll be sharing with me soon."

'She doesn't know about parahuman? Am I really in another alternate Earth?' Taylor mused inwardly before what the maid said hit her and she sputtered "Wait, what do you mean that I'm a maid?"

The maid arched her eyebrows "Did you not remember what Milady requested in exchange for saving your life?" seeing a confused look on Taylor's face, the maid smiled knowingly and asked; "You thought that was a dream, do you?"

"Eh, well…"

The maid didn't wait; she brought up her hands to stopped Taylor's murmuring and stated calmly, "You should meet with Milady first, so you can get answers directly while avoiding any misunderstanding that may occur."

Taylor opened her mouth as her thoughts came to a halt. Basic instinct, honed by mistrust, told her to escape yet again, and again that she told it to shut up; What was she's going to demand the maid? Release her? Bring her back to her dad? And how? While she was as tall as the maid, there was no way that she could beat this maid, not recognizing the term didn't excuse her from the fact that this maid was a parahuman and knew how to use her power.

"W… why can't you explain it to me?"

Even so, Taylor blurted out before she could control herself, and shrunk under the questioning gaze from the maid as if instinctively preparing for punishment that would never come.

The maid's gaze softened at the sight and replied, "Milady only told me that she agreed to saved you in exchange for your servitude to lessen the burden of mine. She didn't tell anything more, hence bringing you to meet her first."

"I… see…" Taylor replied, feeling emboldened, she asked further "What's your name?"

The maid in red widened her eyes as her head dipped slightly "Oh! How unbecoming of me to forget such basic tact! My name is Yumeko, please to meet you, Miss Hebert."

Her hand shot out again, prompting Taylor to shook it. As their hands released, the now identified Yumeko waved her right arm to the side causing the space to bend before a pair of gleaming silver boots seemingly made of actual silver came into existence out of thin air. She then pointed at Taylor's feet "Put this on, please, so we can get going."

As Taylor sat down "Why didn't you put it on me when I was sleeping?" Seeing the other blinked in confusion, she patted the white apron that was part of her maid uniform for emphasis "I mean, you bothered to put me in this uniform, why not the boots too?"

"Do you sleep with your boots on, Miss Hebert?"

Taylor was stunned for a moment before letting out a sigh and quietly put her new footwear on with Yumeko watching her with a puzzling look.

Once Taylor put her boots which reached as high as her mid-lower legs on, Yumeko silently made her way toward the exit, motioning her right hand as a sign for Taylor to follow her, to which she complied as there was nothing to do anyway.

'At least the boots weren't heavy.' Taylor thought.

The corridor they were in also built with the same blue crystal-like bricks as the room, keeping it alight by green-glowing crystals floating near the ceiling instead of electrical lamps. Taylor briefly wondered what kind of place this was to have such exotic construction materials before she gave up while ascending a stairwell that wouldn't look out of place in the Medieval castle.

'Maybe it's just another Tinker bull… huh!?'

As soon as Taylor was about to file the strangeness of the building she was in as another product of parahuman, she found a window that opened toward the sky filled with glowing red miasma. The dark landscape dotted sparsely with torch lights which probably from inhabitants of this land.

And the most damning evidence that made her theory of being inside some kind of parahuman secret base died in a pit when she poked her head out and looked upward, heedless of Yumeko's surprised at her sudden movement, and saw two glowing stars hanging in the sky in place of what should be the Moon.

Yumeko strode toward Taylor with no rush, seeing that she wasn't about to jump or run away. Once she placed herself next to Taylor and looked at what she was looking, her lips curved into knowing smile "So, I guess that should quench your doubt, Miss Hebert?"

Her words caused Taylor to almost jump in surprise before she nodded at the blonde maid. That caused Yumeko to clapped her hand and asked "Well, with that out of the way, shall we proceed? We shouldn't let Milady wait too long."

With that, the rest of the journey in the castle became a quiet affair; Even when they passed through guards with non-human feature patrolling corridors while holding spears and wearing medieval armor, or tiny girls in maid dresses with translucent butterfly-like wings hauling cleaning equipment passing through.

"Those are fairies." Yumeko chimed in as if she knew what's on Taylor's mind when her green eyes wandered toward another group of 'fairies' that went down the nearby window. "They mostly pretend to do the cleaning anyway. So, the actual works, the critical work, would be done by us after I bring you up to speed."

Yumeko led Taylor to the upper floor, and finally came to a stop next to a massive pair of doors made of stone engraved with strange, glowing symbol not unlike hexagrams that wouldn't look out of place in a fantasy novel, and the weird part of that door was, there was no doorknob anywhere. Given the vibe this place gave her since she showed up here, Taylor wasn't surprised at all when Yumeko simply placed a hand on one of the doors, causing it to glowed briefly before it creaked open to reveal a large hall with red carpet lining at the entrance.

"Like magic fantasy fiction that was written before the age of parahuman…" Taylor murmured.

Yumeko who didn't catch what Taylor said spoke up again "All right, now, Miss Hebert, before we meet Milady, let me say this first," when Taylor turned toward the maid, she continued, "Milady is a kind master, so don't be rude to her. However, she also values honesty, if you have any grievances or complaints to tell, then do so, politely."

The narrowed golden eyes elicited a nod from the raven-haired girl. Satisfied, Yumeko then beckoned her to follow inside.

It was everything to be expected from a throne room in fantasy fictions; a circular hall with a small throne on the dais at the opposite end of the entrance and round meeting table in the middle. There was also a small door behind the throne, likely leading to the study or office of the ruler of this castle which was where Yumeko was leading Taylor.

"The council meeting won't start until the snow season has passed," Yumeko explained as Taylor glanced around the empty throne room while they were making their way across. "Worry not, I'll make sure to train you up to the task before then."

Once they were next to the final door, Yumeko placed her hand on the glowing symbol where the eyehole would be and then spoke; "Milady, I've brought Miss Hebert."

A pause, then a voice familiar to Taylor chimed from the door "-Come in then, Yumeko, you too, Miss Hebert.-"

Without further ado; the door slid up and revealed a cozy office with shelves filled with books and documents on both sides of the walls. The shelves were as high as ceiling a dozen meters up. At the end of said office sat a woman on her desk, seemingly reading something in her hands using the glowing crystal on her desk as a lamp, with the gloomy red miasma-filled sky visible from the glass window behind her.

At the sound of their footsteps, the woman placed her book on the table and stood up before walking, which allowed Taylor to see the woman clearly for the first time; she was, simply put, quite a beautiful young woman, judging by her face which was bereft of any wrinkle. Yet her white hair that ran straight down her back with small beads band-tied ponytail on the left side, and large silver eyes that gazed back at Taylor seemed to contrast to that assumption. Her simple ankle-length red dress with white trim covered her entire body with red shoes barely visible when she stepped forward, further enhanced the mysterious air around her. All in all, she'd fit more in a picture of old wizard or witch than an aspiring young magician, in Taylor's opinion.

Yumeko stood to the side and bowed at the white-haired woman, with Taylor taking a cue from her and bowed as she stopped next to her. And then, the white-haired woman spoke for the first time, with the same voice she heard in her dream.

"My name is Shinki, Miss Hebert. Allow me to welcome you to my realm." She then summoned a chair out of thin air with a snap of her fingers next to Taylor, then gestured at it. "Please take a seat, we have much to discuss, especially the contract you must fulfill."

Looking at the blonde-haired maid; Taylor found her nodded slightly, beckoning her to do as Shinki asked. So, she took the seat reluctantly while the woman in her dream smiled approvingly and returns to her desk…

'Hopefully, I'd make a good first impression for my job interview'


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Taylor regarded the woman who went back to sit at her deck with a degree of apprehension. While it was assuring that all this wasn't a dream, the reality that she signed a contract with her for a second life in servitude still dampened her joy down a notch as there was no telling what she has in store for her. If it just a mundane duty of housemaid then it's fine, but judging by the fantastic denizens she passed by during her journey up here, it started to get worrying.

It seems she couldn't conceal her nervousness as well as she thought as Shinki's motherly voice echoed inside her head after that "I wouldn't expect you to do all those right away, child. There's a reason I'm assigning Yumeko as your instructor after all."

Taylor looked at Shinki with wide eyes "You're inside my head, again…" she sounded terrified "Are you Mastering me?"

Yumeko who stood attention beside her narrowed her eyes at Taylor but didn't say anything while Shinki replied in motherly tone "If all I wanted was a slave, then I wouldn't bother resurrecting you, child. Sculpting a clay doll and turn it into a puppet or golem will do just fine."

The ruler of Pandemonium noticed that the nervousness and fear had yet to fade from Taylor's eyes, prompted her to shook her head "It's no good for you to be this paranoid, child. You'll make no friends with that attitude." pausing a bit, she continued "And please think carefully, if I already dominated your will, why are we still having this conversation?"

Taylor visibly relaxed at that statement though her eyes still showed sign of wariness, that's what Shinki expected after she gleamed all of Taylor's memories during the resurrection process; Anyone who experienced what Taylor had in her last few years of previous life would come out like this more often than not.

Drumming her fingers on her desk, Shinki had Taylor's attention on her before speaking "First thing first, allow me to repeat what the contract entails; you've been resurrected as my Shikigami – A 'Familiar' if you want a very simplified term in your tongue – but let me assure you that you're anything but just a Familiar you know from your Earth Bet's fantasy fictions."

Taylor nodded and let Shinki continued "Anyway, while you have to serve me as part of the contract, I believe that you should familiarize yourself with this realm and train under Yumeko's tutelage first."

Yumeko curtsied at her master's mention and assured Taylor once again "I'll make sure that you know everything, or at least, the basics of being a proper maid before this winter's end. While I never trained anyone before, I'll be doing my best to impart my knowledge to you." she paused, her golden eyes met Taylor's brown-green as she smiled slightly "Try our best together, for our mistress."

Taylor gulped before replied to the maid in a meek voice "I… guess so…"

Again, Shinki proved to know exactly what Taylor was nervous about, but instead of telling it directly, she decided to ask about it, surprising Taylor a bit "What's troubling you child?"

Looking at Shinki's silver eyes and her motherly feel, Taylor felt her nervousness slipped away. While the question of 'Was she trying to calm me down with some Master effect?' still lingered, Taylor decided to not care; considered how much power Shinki wielded to be capable of resurrecting the dead, she could've done much worse.

"I'm not sure if I'm offending you, Ma'am…"

"Call me Shinki," Shinki quickly replied "I don't mind. Just like how I keep telling Yumeko." the woman then sent a mocking glare at the aforementioned maid, who stood stoically and refuse to respond to the childish attempt from her mistress.

A glance at her senior then back to her new boss, Taylor decided to emulate her senior instead "If you say so, Ma'am."

That made Shinki shook her head in exasperation and dropped the subject "Well, I'll shelf that for the time being, getting off track as I am. Well, child, please continue."

Having permission, Taylor didn't beat around the bush and spoke "I'm not sure if I have the same definition of a servant as yours, or this world Ma'am. They look…" she paused, trying to sort out the right word before she settled for "…violent."

Shinki sighed and looked at Taylor with a confident smile "I can assure you that your duty will not involve fending off intruders or would-be assassin, child. Else I'd dressed you in something more appropriate for bodyguard, not maid."

"But if you want to learn how to fight or magic to aid you in various tasks ahead, then I have no problem teaching some for you during free time, Miss Hebert," Yumeko stated matter-of-factly which surprised Taylor a little but earned a glare from Shinki in response.

Yet Shinki didn't scold her maid, she simply confirmed it "Yes, as Yumeko has said; you can practice in your free time. I may be the goddess of Makai - a demonic realm – but I'm not harsh on my subjects, let alone my daughters."

Taylor blushed at her word and sputtered "d…daughters?"

"Yes, dear, daughters" Shinki repeated, nodded in Yumeko's direction, who looked like she was doing her best not to blush while still looking at her mistress at the same time "I gave birth to Yumeko, and you to some extent. So you're also a daughter in my eyes."

Taylor decided that she wouldn't try to understand that reasoning and focused on what Yumeko said earlier instead "Magic? Are you referring to Parahuman's power? Did that mean you made me a cape too, eh, Ma'am?"

A soft laugh came out of Shinki's lips before she shot Taylor's theory down by a simple question "Can this parahuman's power of your world ever replicable, passing down to others, child?"

Taylor's eyes widen at the implication and excitement eroded her mistrust a little bit if her voice was any indication "Are you saying that this 'Magic' is learnable by anyone? Without went through Trigger Event to get it?"

Although Taylor at this point didn't have much knowledge about 'Trigger Event' despite being a cape geek in her previous life, the posts and conversations in the online community she once dwelled painted some clues that it cannot be something good happened upon the parahuman in question.

"Most people can." Yumeko corrected from the side. Her arms crossed as she calmly explained with a voice that sounded like she was offended "If they have given the efforts in such endeavor. Unlike your parahuman thing…"

The maid materialized a short sword out of thin air. She grabbed it and twirled it expertly a few times while continuing to stare at Taylor "I did not have this ability since birth, I have to work for years to master it. Do you think you, who born from Milady, would be any different?"

Shinki nodded while smiling "As Yumeko said, my child. And while it's inevitable that some people will be more 'gifted' than others, they too will fell and left behind if they do not put some effort into learning and expanding their capabilities beyond what already theirs." She paused then spoke with conviction "I believe that you have it in you."

Taylor was speechless at the confidence Shinki put in her potential; She was nothing in a previous life, surely Shinki had already seen her memories. How could she said that she – the sophomore, lanky Taylor – could do better just because she reincarnated in the Demonic realm?

Shinki sighed and pressed her finger on her forehead "I don't even need to read your mind to know what you're thinking, Taylor." her silver eyes then bore through Taylor's brown as she lowered her hand and crossed her arms "I'll ask you this: Have you ever tried to be a maid before?" once Taylor shook her head – an obvious reaction that both sides know she would – she continued "Then why you preemptively said you can't do it?"

Taylor wasn't sure how to respond, allowing Yumeko to once again chimed in, her voice now tinged with annoyance "You human never born knowing the danger of fire. Never know how to talk the moment they exited their mother's womb. And are you going to repay Milady's kindness by refusing to uphold the bargain you made?"

"Enough, Yumeko." Shinki quickly put an end to her maid's tirade with a sharp glare then spoke calmly "Please wait outside, for now, Yumeko."

That made the maid recoiled, shame evident in her eyes "I'm sorry, Milady, I lose control of myself for a moment. Please, allow me to stay-."

Shinki realized what the other was thinking and quickly remedied the situation "I'm not angry at you, child. However, while I'd like you to stay and listen in, this's not the time. It's something 'personal' for her." she nodded at Taylor, who remained quiet during the argument "Perhaps in time, she may share it with you. I might add that she didn't intend to share it with me, but alas, Shikigami contract doesn't leave me with many choices but to know of it during the ritual."

The master and servant locked eyes, as if contesting each other's will. Before Yumeko bowed and then turned to leave with parting word bereft of venom unlike earlier "As you wish, Milady."

As she was walking toward the exit, Yumeko sends Taylor one apologetic glance before the door closed with a small thud with Taylor sitting still, unsure what she should do to her soon-to-be senior.

"Leave her be, child."

Shinki's voice reminded Taylor that she was still there. Turning around, Taylor found Shinki stood up and walked over to her from behind her desk "She is my first child, you see. Despite my best effort, I still spoiled her a little bit too much. And hardly see much of the world despite living for centuries."

Silver eyes that glanced over Taylor toward the door where Yumeko disappeared looked like she was reminiscing the past, as if she wasn't talking to Taylor at all if not for her dedicate hand gently pressed on the girl's shoulder, silently telling her to sit down.

"However, making her a maid of Pandemonium castle serving me is one thing that she has chosen out of her own free will you know?" Shinki continued softly "If I could, I would've resurrected you as a denizen of this realm, free to pursue whatever you wished. But alas, you're not born into this world and rule of the Heaven is strict and unforgiving; the dead have to go through the cycle of rebirth without fail, barring special circumstances. I hope that you'll forgive me for this."

Taylor looked down at her skirt, hands clenched the apron she was wearing before her resolve solidified and spoke up "I've chosen to live again, Ma'am…" she looked up at Shinki, who looked back with small sign of surprise in her silver eyes "Even if I thought it was a dream, but there's no denying that I had signed a contract with you out of my free will, out of my desire to live. So I'll serve you."

Shinki squeezed her shoulder a bit and whispered "Thank you" and then she walked toward one of the bookshelves and took out a newspaper and placed it on her desk, while Taylor was watching her "You should give Yumeko a chance, she can be… intense… as she takes her duty seriously and expects you to do the same – doing your best."

Taylor's eyes glued to the newspaper as she was trying to discern the date from it. But Shinki called her attention before she could've seen it "As for your doubt in your capability; the let me ask you this: From your memories shared with me due to Shikigami link between us, you'd have a lot of opportunities to transfer out of that sad excuse of an education institution – either home study or to another institution - yet you didn't until the very end, why?"

Taylor's breath hitched when Shinki mentioned her previous life; this isn't the question she expected and wasn't sure how it could relate to being good at her new job here. Regardless, that got her to ponders; recalling the reasons why she'd stayed there until her death?

The financial situation that cannot let her transfer out also rung hollow when there were many alternatives apart from transferring to expensive schools in the city or study aboard. Study at home and apply for the GED test is one of the simplest ways to do it and she could just get a job or something after that to help her dad years earlier too…

Worry about her dad? Sure, that was a valid reason, he could barely hold together since her mother's death, adding this bullying campaign to the mix wouldn't end well for two of them. He cannot win against the entire school staff and the most popular girl, a track star, and a slew of lackey combined.

Want her friend to come back to her sense? She found that it was a pipe dream that she used to justified staying initially, but ultimately, she realized too late that it was a lost cause.

But ultimately, as she thought it over, those weren't the true reason for her to stayed in Winslow…

She took a few minutes gathering her thought, before inhaled and replied to the woman looming over her in expectation "If I go away, then it's not only mean that they win, it also means they'll shift their target to others, make them suffer in my place…" she then sighed, tears threatened to fall from her eyes as her next words came out "But it was all meaningless now."

Shinki shook her head and slowly reached her hand out to touched Taylor's cheek. Taylor almost recoiled, but then let the woman gently wiped her tears away.

"it's not meaningless, my child" Shinki spoke as she withdrew her hand "this is just another proof that you have the determination, and drives to succeed in whatever goal you set yourself to."

Taylor realized that when Shinki said it that way, it made sense too, from a certain point of view. Letting out a bitter smile "You're expecting me to be as determined at a new job as in my previous life." It wasn't a question at all, indicated by her next words "I can do that at least."

Shinki nodded with approval in her eyes and tried to speak only for Taylor's stomach to growl in protest. The girl–turned–maid blushed and avoided eye contact with her now–officially–the master who chuckled in return "Oh, dear, I forgot that you have yet to mastering the art of 'abandon food' like Yumeko yet. And it seems we've converse for too long already. Very well…"

As if she has telepathic sense, the door flung opened and Yumeko strode into the room. Taylor also stood up as the maid took her position next to her, like servants awaiting commands from their master.

"Now, Yumeko, please be kind to her and get her something to eat." Shinki instructed jovially "You'll begin your new work starting tomorrow, Taylor. Yumeko will be your teacher for proper conduct and works that will entail. I'll personally teach you some magic if that's what you want, but only after you can do your jobs properly first and while you have free time, like I once offered Yumeko, okay?"

Taylor nodded, elicited a smile on Shinki's face as she clapped her hands and gestured toward the door "So, see you two later then, my children."

Yumeko took that as a sign to leave; she bowed her head, prompting Taylor to followed her bow and then leading her out of the office.

While traveling down the stair toward her new room, Yumeko's eyes glanced sideway toward Taylor who was trailing slightly behind and spoke up "I'm not sorry for saying those words to you by the way."

Taylor nodded mutedly without looking and let her senior continued as they descended downstairs "Just… don't say something like that before you try again, Taylor. I don't like people who preemptively excused themselves from hardship. No matter how justified it might be."

Taylor's temper flared up a little and snapped back "You don't even know what I've been through!"

"Yes, I don't." Yumeko spun on her heels and face Taylor, causing the latter to stopped walking and looked into her golden eyes "Most employers in the human world won't care either. All they wanted from you is that you do your job, your personal baggage is of little concern for them. I've been there a few times after all."

The two maids glared at each other, Taylor found herself unable to disagree with her senior. How could she when the example was right before her eyes every single day since her mother's death in the previous life? Her dad couldn't quit working at the Dock Worker Union else there will be no food on their table, so he has to work regardless of emotional turmoil inside his mind.

And now she found herself respecting Shinki even more.

Yumeko seems to know what Taylor was thinking and shook her out of her thought with another word "I won't pretend I understand your circumstances, Miss Hebert, I couldn't lie worth a damn, pardon my rudeness." she turned around and started walking at a brisker pace, forcing Taylor to widen her footsteps to keep up "But if you still think of yourself as worthless, then your performance will subconsciously drop to the level you think you are as well. You, who once been human, are better than that."

That statement got Taylor thinking for the rest of the trip until they reached their quarter on the ground floor. Yumeko produced a key and unlocked the door for them to go inside quietly.

The servant quarter was quite bare-basic; the first to greeted her sight was a small kitchen next to the entrance with everything Taylor expected for a kitchen except for a coal-fired stove replacing gas and electrical one and no refrigerator. Though Taylor suspected that the cupboard made of blue crystal cubes opposite of the stove was anything but normal judging from the cold mist surrounding it.

"That's where we store fresh ingredients." Yumeko said when she noticed where Taylor was staring "Though I haven't eaten much since mastered 'abandon food' magic. I always keep some just in case."

She then led Taylor inside; a bathroom coupled with a toilet located just past the kitchen area, and beyond it was a bedroom. A wooden bunk bed sat next to the glass window, mattresses, blankets, and pillows included and folded neatly. There's a reading desk with a crystal magic lamp sitting on the opposite side of the wall alongside a wardrobe.

At the sight of the bunk bed, Taylor couldn't help but asked Yumeko about it.

"At the time Milady created Pandemonium castle, she made this so I could invite friends to a sleepover if I so wished." Yumeko explained, her lip tugged up slightly "…now, the upper one is yours."

Taylor eyed the bunk which for Yumeko held fond memories of her past hesitantly before accepted "Thank you, Miss."

"Just call me Yumeko, we're now co-worker after all."

Hesitation slowly fades from Taylor's face replaced with a thankful smile, but Yumeko cut her off before she could properly thank her "Let's start with preparing a meal then. You know how to cook right?"

"Yes, Yumeko…" How could she not when her father being dead inside for the past couple of years, but then she realized that with the medieval level of access, the ingredients she has here may not be the same and quickly added "…But on second thought, I think I have to see what you have in storage first."

"That is understandable." Yumeko agreed "Let's this be the first lesson for you then. And a chance for me to know you a little better, if you don't mind sharing by the way."

And so, the two of them went to prepare their meal together. Though the story of Taylor's previous life may have to wait, overall, it was a good start; for friendship has to start somewhere after all.

* * *

'The stars are mesmerizing tonight…'

Unknown to Yumeko, Taylor who was cooking the latter's first meal since rebirth, or any inhabitants of Makai, the goddess of demon realm and its creator was now threading the surface of the fourth planet of the Solar System.

Silently hovering through the endless red dune of Mars, Shinki flew toward her favorite spot of sightseeing without any difficulty despite the lack of breathable air and gravity, an achievement that only existed in the fantasy of the mortal human that inhabited what dubbed the outside world by many in her realm as Earth.

Thanks to the lack of air currents and oceanic waves, the spot remains largely the same after millennium; an unassuming rocky hill covered in red sand.

She'd preferred the Lunar for this sightseeing though, but Lunarians were quite territorial and annoying to deal with, so she settled for Mars instead. A different type of scenery if anyone asked for her opinions.

Immigrants who took resident upon her world instead of Eastern Wonderland often brought dreaded stories of their power fading, or their existence outright disappeared, in the outside world, that it would affect all creatures of mortal's imagination that even Gods weren't spared, and warned of their kind to not wander into the mortal realm again. Hence the reason for massive immigration to Eastern Wonderland, and her Makai to a lesser extent for the past couple of centuries when humanity finally pushed past the Dark Age into embracing sciences and technology instead of believing in supernatural.

But little did they know; such concern couldn't apply to the Sages, the Miko and the Dragon who founded the Paradise of the East. After all, they have their duty to maintain the barrier between Wonderland and the mortal world, constantly exposing themselves to the dried up of belief of the mortal realm.

Shinki herself also not affected, but it was out of special circumstances surrounding her birth…

Something that she almost forgot, until now…

[Agreement…]

[Traject…]

[Error… Host cease function…]

[Reconstruction…]

[Error, reconstruction failed…]

[Relocation protocol initiate… Executing…]

Seemingly nonsense words were the last thing Taylor Hebert heard before her soul left her mortal body and ended up in her Makai. It held no meaning to the girl and she doubted that she'll care. But for Shinki, something behind those words means something else.

Reaching the hill, Shinki's red-clad feet touched the rocky ground without stirring the red sand. Her hands crossed at her back as she stood there and take in the sight of the blue diamond among the sea of darkness, pondering the meaning of it all.

'A coincidence perhaps?'

Spreading her arms wide, tendrils of light erupted from her back before solidifying into six bat-like wings with red lines running in various patterns over them.

Standing in her full glory, Shinki basked in the darkness of the void with her eyes looking toward the Earth, now but a small dot looking from where she was, contemplating what she learned.

'Not only accidental through alternate universes, but accidental time travel as well? Fate was such a fickle thing indeed, that even Gods couldn't predict it. Else they could've prevented their falls…'

A soundless chuckle escaped her lips, the red-clad ruler of Makai decided that this matter could wait; there was no hurry in solving this personal matter of hers yet. What matters more right now is her newest daughter – adopted daughter – but still her children nonetheless.

'Her trust issue needs some works.' Shinki thought sadly and shook her head 'Was it a product of living in the age which science clashed with miraculous power? Was this the Old Gods' intention when creating them? Was this another reason why I'm a failure in their eyes?'

Shinki's form then basked in a red glow and vanished without a trace saves for small footprints where she once stood.

Though the past was catching up with her, it did not excuse her from being a good mother to her children or governing her realm to her best abilities.

* * *

**Author's Note:** As this's AU, Shinki's and many characters' origin is somewhat changed, not that it matter much when she was never elaborated too much, as per most PC-98 characters.

Hint of her origin in this story is that her relationship with certain characters, or rather, his progenitors, is like Suigintou to other Rozen Maidens with some twists. Hope this won't spoil too much.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Wake up now Taylor! It's five in the morning, we must prepare breakfast for Milady!"

Rolling across her small bunk bed, Taylor rose up groggily. Her eyes took a moment adjusting to the darkness of servant quarter before she quickly jumped down to the floor, dashed for her wardrobe to grabbed her change of maid uniform and make a beeline toward the shower to get change. All the while, smell of breakfast wafting through the air and bubbling sound sung in her ears telling her that Yumeko was at the stove cooking for her.

'It's strange. How Shinki requested us to cook breakfast for her just now' Taylor thought 'after this much time passed without her asking for a meal, I almost believe that she doesn't eat.'

It has been three weeks since beginning her new life as a maid in the Pandemonium fortress, Taylor was forced to adapt and learned at a quick pace least she earned an ire from her senior due to her clumsiness or stupidity, especially stupidity.

Looking back, such an incident hadn't occurred that many times as she initially thought. Yumeko acknowledged that she wasn't used to living in this world and never done half-decent housework until now, thus she will forgive her for such thing when they cropped up the first or second time.

But when the mistake that she could've avoided if she pays attention or should've already learned about it did happen, Yumeko makes sure that Taylor won't forget her mistakes anytime soon. Like that second day incident where she fell for obvious, good old 'Help Me!' cry and broke a vase in one of the trophy room when she was tripped by those goddamned fairies. Taylor swore that Yumeko chased her around for hours with a flurry of swords flying in her direction.

Luckily, Taylor hasn't got skewered and managed to dodge all of them with several cuts on her maid uniform. She was surprised at the agility she displayed under stress especially when her body build was still that of her previous life's one which shouldn't be able to do all that without getting a sword or two stick out of her torso. And while she was angry at Yumeko for such potentially lethal punishment, her senior took in stride and proceed to explain why it was acceptable.

"Those blades I threw at you were enchanted to not leave bodily harm upon those that have souls." Yumeko said while she made Taylor cleaning up the mess in the trophy room after she was done chasing Taylor around "And if I truly went all out, you won't be able to dodge anyway – Not at your current skill and experience at least."

"If you're still clumsy in doing housework and fall easily to pranks of the fair folks, how much chance do you have in combat?" Yumeko asked back neutrally with no scorn or contempt "And Milady did promise to teach you herself, I'll honor her wish, as per duty of her servant."

Taylor couldn't disagree with her despite a bit miffed at her rebuttal; her reasoning leaves no room for argument and to be honest she has forgotten Shinki's promise already due to practice and housework everyday left her with little time to cool off before going to bed.

Taylor's musing came to an end when she finished changing and walked back to the kitchen. There she found two bowls of steaming porridge waiting on the table and Yumeko seating in one spot. It was strange for Taylor as most novels or TV shows that feature servants on Earth Bet never mention when and where servants eat after all. Yumeko's explanation was amounted to having their stomach full to prevent servants from eating their master's meal when preparing it, which Taylor wasn't sure if that was true or not, as she's not a glutton either now or previous life.

Taking the opposite seat, Taylor quietly thanked her senior and started eating which prompted Yumeko to do the same. Talking during the meal was not forbidden, but considered that Taylor was new here and still learning, there wasn't much that she could talk as Yumeko wasn't interested in Earth Bet thanks to her duty and the unlikeliness that they'd be able to travel there in the foreseeable future.

Wait… Taylor's musing and a spoon full of rice came to a screeching halt when she realized something that she missed for two whole weeks. Putting her spoon down on her bowl, she looked at her senior accusingly "You have an ability that helps with the housework, aren't you?"

Yumeko arched her eyebrow before spoke up neutrally like discussing weather "Before I can do all of it, I still have to do it the hard way. How can you be certain that magic cast by someone who never does that one task before in their life and never experienced someone demonstrating it could do better at the job?"

And another reasonable argument, yet Taylor couldn't help but argue "Back at Earth Bet I saw many documentaries noting how parahuman went out to use their power in just a few days after they got it with just instinct telling them what to do. How can this magic be different?"

Yumeko immediately cut Taylor off, her face showed disdain at the mention of parahuman "I know not whether your 'parahuman' come with an instruction manual drilled into people's mind when awakened or not, but magic certainly not." She tapped her bowl with a spoon irritatingly and continued "Some creatures in this realm have innate abilities they can tap into when needed, true, but for you, you have none, same as I am. But we're getting off-topic here."

Pausing a little bit, Yumeko then spoke up as a sign that this discussion is over whether Taylor like it or not "Finish your breakfast, we have a task waiting for us."

Knowing that she couldn't go against her senior, Taylor sat down and continued eating.

The rest of the meal went by in silence. For Taylor, she was briefly angry at Shinki for not giving her any parahuman-like power to fend for herself in the land of the demon, but she squashed that thought down immediately 'She already revived you, give you second chance instead of leaving you for dead, don't be ungrateful.'

Taylor felt guilty for letting distrust in authority so deeply rooted in her mind to the point that a minor discomfort would bring her darker thought out to the forefront despite the good other party did to her, albeit at a price. While she never voiced it out loud, the knowledge that Shinki could listen to her thought through master/servant connection at any time brought her even more discomfort, wondering what she'd think about her right now.

Shinki never shows up to meet both of them for two weeks straight also exacerbates her inner turmoil. Assurance from Yumeko that she always respected their privacy did little to comfort.

Regardless, Taylor put those thoughts away and stood up after she ate her meal; there's a breakfast to cook for her boss.

After they do the dish, Taylor was yet again surprised by Yumeko who told her to be the one in charge of cooking today while they were walking toward the main kitchen of the castle. Not as cleaners, but as cooks.

"I don't know that many recipes or how to cook." Taylor protested as they walked down the stairs toward their destination "Besides, did Shinki not have a personal cook or something?"

Yumeko stopped in her track and turned back to glare at Taylor, narrowed her eyes which caused Taylor to flinched when combined with the cold anger practically radiating from her reply "You would do well to not assume thing, Taylor. I thought I told you that sometime during your stay here..."

She paused at that for a moment, her eyes widen in recognition before she sighed and continued in a gentler tone, and surprised Taylor with it "Well, I'm partly at fault too, never explained it to you since it never came up before. I'm sorry…"

Facing with a sudden attitude change, Taylor lost the steam and unable to retort or jab back at her senior when the other admitted their own mistake – something that utterly inconceivable from Taylor's experience in her last two years of the previous life.

'But it's a welcoming change at least.' Taylor thought before addressing Yumeko "Okay, but can I ask you for help?"

"You'll be the one cooking today, I'll just following you and do whatever you ask."

Yumeko replied easily as if the idea of having Taylor, who was many years her junior, bossing her around for this task didn't bother her at all.

There wasn't a time to mull around as they both reached the main kitchen of the castle by then. When Yumeko Pushed the double doors aside, Taylor was greeted with a long table, rows of stoves lining up one side of the wall and large stairs leading down to underground cellar on the other. Various beings of different species busy around the place preparing the meal to feed inhabitants of the Pandemonium castle either with boiling, roasting, frying or baking. A pleasant smell of cooked food mixed with coal-fire filled the air creating a unique aroma not found in modern-day gas-using kitchen Taylor once familiar with.

It was right here that Taylor understood Yumeko's reason for them to eat first; she'd be too distracted by this environment to cook for anyone that's not herself – the smell was very nice and distracting.

As the two maids walked by, some of them will greet them with a curt nod before going back to their work, from chopping ingredients to kindling the flame under the stove or stirring a huge pot over it, no one is idling around at all.

Taylor and Yumeko made their way past one humanoid being that looked like a minotaur before coming to a stop next to the empty stove, table and shelf separating from the other rows behind, which also in pristine condition, like not many people used this area or it was well taken care of regularly, with the latter explanation more likely than the former in Taylor's opinion.

Still, breakfast won't make itself here, so Taylor decided to get to work as the first idea of 'breakfast' comes to mind "Well, Yumeko, do you think we have…"

* * *

It was lucky that there were still familiar livestock and agricultural products in this demonic realm which made the preparation much easier than Taylor expected.

From what she could gather, the livestock and seeds came from the human realm along with immigrants who escaped 'the collapse of supernatural belief' - as Yumeko called it – around centuries ago. They quickly gained popularity among the demonic denizens and soon became a staple source of food in this realm since.

While she didn't elaborate on what demons considered 'food' before, she assured Taylor that there're no human eaters here. When considered that some of the denizens are 'Human' themselves, Taylor inclined to believe her.

In the end, Taylor opted for the good-old fashion 'fried ham, bacon and egg with bread and fruit juice', the ham and bacon were made from salting meat of creature that's vaguely pork-like instead of fantasy creature level of weirdness according to Yumeko. All in all, Taylor could say that it's adequate since her senior didn't comment on it.

'Or she just let Shinki herself does the scolding.' a part of her distrustful mind whispered, but Taylor ignored it as she carried her breakfast toward Shinki's office, keep telling herself that Pandemonium castle is not a hellhole like Brockton Bay she once lived. Despite the monstrous appearance of some denizens who worked in this place, they were being polite to two of them thus far. Yet again, her mind still cast doubts upon their kindness, wonder if it was because who they served or genuine respect of them, or just a trap to lure them to drop their guards, like those bloody fairies.

At least her paranoia was improving; now she saw fairies as child-like in personality and bear no malice to anyone, which was proven when Taylor saw them pranked everyone equally over the past two weeks with no ill will when they get spanked back in turn, or even when getting killed and resurrected a day or two later.

She sometimes wished that the fairies keep the memories of what they did and consequences of their actions when resurrected, but Yumeko simply shook her head when she mused that out loud, saying that it'd make them more of a pest than they already been, which was not a good thing at all. She even cited several records from people across this realm about their futility in teaching these fair folks lessons, something that Taylor would like to check out when she received permission.

A knock on the office door behind the throne room later, and Taylor found herself serving her meal to Shinki who seated behind her work desk as per Yumeko's instruction before getting in here. Once all the dishes and utensils were in place, Taylor retreated to standing beside the desk, nervously awaiting her master's verdict as she gracefully eating breakfast made for her.

Her mistress hadn't spoken at all since they met today; silent nod was all that she did to greeted her before returned to busying herself with writing down something in a notebook with her pen. Only when Taylor chimed to her that breakfast was ready that she nodded again and putting her work aside to begin eating.

After all the bacon was gone and fried egg half-eaten, the woman in red robe put down her fork and looked up at Taylor "It's been a while since I have Western breakfast. Yours is all right…"

the pause at the end riled up Taylor's anxiety enough for her to ask up, heedless of the glare from Yumeko standing next to her "Is there something wrong, S – Ma'am?"

While it was true that Shinki permitted Taylor to call her by name, but as she was on duty, that's not allowed right now, and maybe never.

Shinki smiled at Taylor's nervousness while reassuring her "Nothing is wrong about your food, Taylor; and you have my thank for putting it together today."

"Yumeko helped me, Ma'am," Taylor mumbled with a blush on her cheek while lowered her head and refused to look directly at her mistress, which elicited a soft laugh from Shinki and a sigh from Yumeko.

"Ah, don't be so humble Taylor; you deserve the credit for it." Shinki took a sip of juice before asking "Unless you're saying that you dumped all responsibilities on Yumeko, which I suspect to not be the case, did you?"

Taylor didn't reply and let Shinki continued "At least you're being honest." then she returned to eating and the room fell silent once again.

It didn't take long for Shinki to finish the meal, but for Taylor, it felt like an hour has passed. A few moments later after the woman finished wiping off her mouth with a napkin, she gestured her hand telling the two maids to carry the empty dishes and glass out. However, when Taylor was the first to respond, she quickly shook her head "Yumeko, can you do the dish? I have something to discuss with Taylor."

Yumeko obediently complied; Taylor stepped aside to let her work which simply amounted to waving her hand over the dishes and then everything disappeared into the air ripple she created before she turned around and left the office with a parting warning glare at Taylor.

While Taylor was annoyed that Yumeko only used her 'magic' just now despite went without one for two entire weeks in her sight, she got the latter's message.

It wasn't like she'd try anything she'd regret toward Yumeko; she helped her after all.

"Taylor, you're spacing out, what are you thinking?"

Shinki's sing-song voice shook Taylor out of her musing and quickly apologize "I'm sorry, Ma'am! I got distracted."

Mirthful giggle cut off Taylor's apology off "Relax my child, as I told Yumeko, there's something I wish to discuss with you…" she trailed off, before asking "Speaking of which, how are you doing while I was away?"

Despite her best effort to remain proper like Yumeko's instructed, Taylor's eyes widen and asked "You are away from the castle for two weeks?" then she put her hands over her mouth when she realized what she just did, followed by a deep bow "I'm… I'm sorry Ma'am!"

Shinki shook her head and replied gently "Your soul is that of a teenager, my child. It's hard to break out of the habit or ingrain a new one. I'd be surprised if you could be a prim and proper maid like Yumeko in this short time."

The creator of Makai waved her hand above her desk, a small stack of books fell out of thin air, each book easily as thick as her arm stacked up in front of her. Taylor watched as Shinki lifted the topmost book and showed her the title, which surprised her even more;

"Ma'am, did you spent these past two weeks getting these books?"

"Indeed, my child."

Taylor was not stupid and could guess what Shinki wanted her to do with these books, yet still, another part of her questioned her reasoning because they were a bit inappropriate when looking at the publishing date on the cover. And since Shinki herself and Yumeko told her to be honest, she decided to do exactly that with a bit of apprehension;

"Forgive me for asking, but aren't these books a bit outdated?"

One part of her wondered if Shinki simply bought them from an antique shop, but from the pristine condition shown, Taylor doubts that it was as simple as that.

Instead of a direct answer; Shink put the book down while asked her back "Do you remember the date which you died, my child?"

"January 2011 Ma'am."

The answer came almost immediately. Which was not surprising, it'd be hard to forget your death day after all.

Shinki nodded and then dropped a bombshell "When I told you that your soul was flung through alternate universes when you died, I left off that you also traveled back in time as well."

And thus, Taylor's self-control broke again as she slammed both hands on Shinki's desk and exclaimed "Wait! What!?"

Unperturbed by her servant's action, Shinki repeated her statement "As I said, my child, you were flung back in time. Even if I could find your 'Earth Bet' home universe, you'd be arriving in the past, not when you died... Are you still with me, Taylor?"

Taylor was unresponsive at first due to the shocking revelation, Shinki has to get up from her seat and walked over to put Taylor down on a chair that the girl finally regained her sense.

"I'm sorry for such unsightly behavior Ma'am." Taylor mumbled while staring at her feet in shame, but in the next moment, she looked up and stared at her mistress "If that's the case, how far back I am now?"

Shinki produced a newspaper out of thin air, the smell of fresh ink she picked up tells Taylor that it was a newly printed one. When looked at the text, Taylor didn't recognize the publishing company, yet the large front-page title, along with its date, was more than enough to tell her which period she was in.

'Incheon Landing Miracle, UN Forces pushed back Communist North Korea!'

"This…" Taylor stuttered "…I'm in 1950?"

"Of different, alternate universe version of Earth." Shinki finished for her before sighing "Not even five years passed and the human is at war again. I think it's obvious why the Grim Reapers are busy – the dead from World War 2 is yet to be sorted out, considering the aftereffects like famine, disease, and hardship after the war."

"I… see…"

That was all Taylor could say as she received the newspaper from Shinki and started reading. No matter which page she turned, it was obvious that yes; she was really in the past now.

'So that explained the outdated textbooks.' Taylor thought wryly before she asked out loud "But are you sure it's all right to study these? I mean, I doubt I'd get to use it in the land of magic. Shouldn't I study something along that line instead?"

That made Shinki looked at her with a strange smirk before she started walking around Taylor while asking "Answer me this Taylor; in your mind, what separate science from magic?"

Taylor pondered for a bit and then replied as Shinki completed her round and stood in front of her again "Science is something that can be proved and replicable. It's a universal truth."

Shinki was silent for a moment and then nodded "Good answer." She loomed forward, grey eyes meet brown, and she asked "Then, can magic be qualified as another branch of science when it's replicable and can be proven that it exists?" she chuckled "After all, if it's not replicable, there wouldn't be teachers and students in the art of arcane, either here, or the Eastern Wonderland."

Taylor couldn't form any rebuttal; it was obvious since Yumeko already dropped a few hints during the past two weeks that it was learnable, and Shinki even told her that she'd tutor her. Again, her suspicious mind played merry hell with her trust issue.

"It wouldn't do that you'd forgo modern knowledge for magical one."

Shinki extended her hand to pat on the stack of books she procured from 'Human world' while speaking to Taylor "And from my experiences, I'd dare say that it'd help you immensely in your arcane study down the line, if you have the idea when or where is best to reject reality and use magic to assert your own."

Pausing a bit, Shinki smiled at her 'daughter' "But that's for the later. Now? Please make sure you studied all of these during your free time…" she then scratched her cheek with thoughtful look "And speaking of which, I never have Yumeko learned these before, might as well rope her in. Do you mind sharing books with your senior?"

"No, Ma'am. I don't have any problem with that at all."

Taylor replied despite the ache in her heart due to this request reminded her too much of a better day in a previous life. She tried to remind herself that this's new life now, and she can't build new relationships and memories without interacting with others.

None of Taylor's brooding could escape Shinki's notice, her smile turned sad and extended her hand over to squeeze on her shoulder, which the newly-minted maid could appreciate.

"Thank you, Ma'am… this means a lot…" Taylor looked up, giving her second mother an assuring smile.

Shinki's radiant smile returned and she clapped her hands "Now, remember to tell Yumeko to study alongside you. I'll get the G.E.D. test for you when both of you think you are ready for it. okay?" Taylor nodded "Excellent, I know I've been postponing teaching magic to you, and I apologize for that, but bear with it for a while longer okay? After all, your education will go to rot if left unattended for too long, and then you'd have to relearn all of them again when you need them in the future."

Taylor couldn't fault her idea. And if she was honest; Shinki now sounded like an overbearing mother, while no one can replace her original mother, something like this was still welcome for her after so long.

And damn if she wouldn't do everything she can to succeed in her expectation.

"Understood, Ma'am. I'll do my best."

Taylor meant every word of it, and Shinki, despite never directly read her mind, still felt it through their link and made her smiled.

But still, there was another issue needed addressing;

"Taylor, on your way out, please send Yumeko in, would you?" When Taylor blinked her eyes while looking confused at the request, Shinki continues "I have to apologize that I spoiled Yumeko a little too much, throwing swords at you for your beginner mistakes is not acceptable, non-lethal enhancement or not."

Taylor has to admit that she forgot to bring that up too. And she also didn't expect that Shinki would aware of her maid's action despite being dimension apart as well.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Taylor." Shinki said "It should be I who never taught Yumeko that fear is a situational motivator, just like every method of teaching ever devised by the livings. But I guess our conversation is dragging on and Yumeko is getting antsy outside, so for now, have a good day, my child."

Taylor took that as a signal to stood up. And with a stack of books in her arms, she nodded to Shinki who retreated behind the desk before walking out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Time passed too quickly for Taylor's taste. In that time, her senior changed a little, on one hand, she no longer threatens Taylor with non-lethal violence when she failed to do any given maid work. But on the other hand, the strained expression on her face made clear that she struggled to do so, clearly not used to it, yet the unwillingness to defy their mistress kept her behavior in check.

Taylor could at least sympathize with her dedication to duty, even if it got out of line some times like the incident where she chided Taylor for not accepting common knowledge of this realm or the swords thing. After all, that dedication to her mistress could be used to her advantage as well…

"No, no, you're doing it wrong Yumeko! You're supposed to solve this problem like this."

…like right now, when they're in their pajamas, studying materials Shinki brought from the human-Earth for her to continue education she left off when she died and improve knowledge for Yumeko while she was at it, which wasn't very fruitful in Taylor's honest opinion.

"I still not understand why human has to make mathematic this complicate..."

"Well, because it allows faster calculation than slowly adding or subtracting number one at a time, that should save you some crucial time? Don't you think that'll help with you doing magic better?"

Grumble slipped off Yumeko's lips voicing her irritation to the subject clear to Taylor. But she couldn't bring herself to get angry at her senior anymore after Shinki explained to her once the first week they started this study session ended, which was yesterday;

* * *

"While I still regularly keep a tab on what's happening on human-Earth since I created this realm, the knowledge is not something that my denizen or my daughter who determined to never leave this world deemed necessary for their everyday lives," Shinki explained to Taylor with apologetic smile after the latter showed up at her office late at night to complain to her about Yumeko's lack of modern education and her frustration of needing to teach Yumeko from the ground up.

Taylor blinked at that before slowly asked to make sure she gets it right "So you're saying that Yumeko is against this idea?" when her mistress didn't reply she shook her head "Then why did you put her up with this if it's not necessary for her?"

Shinki's smile widened a little which promptly hidden behind her raised sleeve "I think it's a good way to get you two to know each other better, not as coworkers, but as friends as well."

Seeing Taylor's look of confusion, the Makai ruler elaborated "Since she started working here, Yumeko never interacted with anyone more than her position allowed…" then her smile fell as she continued her explanation "…even with me, the one who gave birth to her, she now sees me as her master more than her mother."

That explanation again flew over Taylor's head as her suspicious reared its ugly head, while she didn't glare at her savior with angry look nor did she slam her fist on the desk, her voice could barely contain what get into her head "You're… using me?"

Shinki closed her eyes and let out a sigh "It's to help both you and Yumeko, giving someone to rely on, friends who you can talk to about anything, without bottle up all the hardships, problems and issues, that's not healthy for anyone, especially people who have long life ahead."

Seeing that Taylor still has a suspicious look, Shinki added "While most employers won't care about this kind of emotional baggage as long as they perform their jobs, I do care, because you and Yumeko are like daughters to me, literally… and I never have much opportunity to give Yumeko friends, nor does she try to make one. Something that I regret to this day."

Sincerity in her words was enough to break Taylor's suspicion and helped her rational thought took over her irrational paranoid. How could she forget? That despite the infinite multiverse and possibility, there're still consistencies, with the pure love of parents to their young being one of them.

While Taylor may not see her that way, at least not yet due to still retaining memories of her old life, she begins to understand Shinki a little more why she'd see that way; after all, when one knows that cycle of death and rebirth was a real thing, it makes little difference in one's eyes as the reborn soul still their child when given flesh and blood by one's hands.

"Besides, I need Yumeko to realize that no one is omniscient." Shinki's voice cut through Taylor's musing "She had been living in the bubble called 'maid duty' for so long that she no longer expected anyone to be as capable as her, refuse to acknowledge that others may have talents in the field she's lacking, with or without magic school she learned."

"Even if that field of talents did not contribute to her everyday life?"

Shinki didn't seem to mind Taylor's open defiance, she smiled and answered cryptically "Who knows? Even seemingly unimportant things can turn out to be instrumental in something greater, no?"

* * *

Taylor snapped back to the task at hands, looking at her senior-in-maid-hood and decided that there's enough mathematics for today's late-night study "I guess…" she looked at the pocket watch laying on their desk "…we could table the lesson for now and rest for the day. I don't think we can continue like this Yumeko."

The latter huffed in response, muttering something under her breath which Taylor suspected was unpleasantness directed at whoever invented mathematics theories they're currently studying. Two of them put their study materials into a shelf, arranged perfectly neat befitting their current profession before each climbed onto their beds and fast asleep, the lamp dimmed automatically leaving the room in darkness, thanks to its magical property.

Taylor couldn't sleep as Shinki's request weighted on her mind; how she supposed to get Yumeko to open up to and befriend her by this study session?

Rolling around her bed, Taylor looked up on the ceiling and pondered about what Shinki said weeks ago. Saying that modern knowledge may have application in mystic art she said; she hadn't taught her mystic arts yet and expected her to find how to combine the two?

"Maybe that's not she meant…" Taylor murmured while closing her eyes "… am I missing something?"

One darker thought said that the goddess wanted to mess with Taylor, but she shot that down immediately. That's another thing that she feels like fixing after all the sincerity and affection Shinki shown. She couldn't help but began to agree with her how she was too paranoid for her good.

Plus, there also what Shinki said before they parted way that day;

"I won't hold it against you if you failed to befriend Yumeko right now, one that lived such life for so long will not be swayed that easily in such a short time."

Even then, Taylor herself still felt an obligation to complete this task, not only for her savior but also for herself as a mark of a fresh start, of her second chance to live her life again away from the hellhole that was Winslow Highschool and Earth Bet.

Stifled a yawn, Taylor decided to shut her brain and went to sleep, maybe after she starved off her tiredness there may be some ideas later.

The next morning was quite normal in Taylor's opinion. After a month of living and working here, things have fallen into a relatively peaceful routine; wake up, make breakfast for herself and Yumeko depending on their shift, then depend on whether Shinki wanted some too or not, make one for her, then start her cleaning assignment of the day.

With a castle this large, one would expect it to be brimming with servants and caretakers, but manpower issue was thrown out of the windows when magic was involved. Although Taylor still doing housework conventionally, Yumeko didn't and take care of the rest of the castle with her ability, which involved manipulating space of some sort, from what she told her.

"Don't content to just doing thing by hands, Taylor." Yumeko reminded her after they meet for lunch at their quarter "Milady will soon teach you how to wield mystic art to aid in your tasks."

"I'm looking forward to it." Taylor replied when done eating, as per proper manner instilled upon her by Yumeko "…As soon as I pass the GED test first, she specified that requirement for me after all."

That earned a frown from Yumeko "That… could complicate things… I'm not the best at learning them you see…" she admitted honestly "She told me that both of us must pass that test too."

She then left to attend her duty in the different areas of the castle, leaving Taylor alone again.

For her part, Taylor didn't delve on it much at the time, after all, the study was for after all the works in the castle were done for that day at night. And of course, those goddamned fairies will never help maintain this place, let alone cease their attempt to mess things up for everyone, especially for caretakers of the castle who have to clean up afterward, like her.

Once the clock strikes six in the evening, Taylor walked back toward her and Yumeko's quarter utterly exhausted and wished for a warm meal before doing anything like another grueling lesson with Yumeko in modern-day knowledge of the world beyond the demonic realm.

Meals were usually a quiet affair for the two maids of the Pandemonium castle, with an increase in competency on her part lessen the chewing from the senior maid. Yumeko seems not to be the kind to shower others with flattery and compliment, thus when Taylor did well, "Good" or "Very well" was the most she'll say. But on the other hand, there was still a long way to go for her since she couldn't use power to trivialize her workload and increase her capability beyond that of regular non-powered servants yet – something that's practically a requirement for this castle – so she still has a long way to go yet.

"Taylor…"

Yumeko's voice snapped Taylor out of her musing and looked at her senior with a questioning glance, idly noting that she hasn't touched her meal yet.

Seeing her junior looking at her, the red-clad maid asked hesitantly "Can you help me with mathematic again tonight?"

Taylor's mind wondered for a moment what transpired to make Yumeko asked her like that, but then her determination returned, demanded her to rise to challenge.

"Of course, I'll do my best."

After all, her senior had given her all despite misgiving about what she was asked to do by her mistress, why Taylor should do any less?

The lesson resumed after their dinner, and it didn't take long for Taylor to noticed the absence of complaints and grumble from her senior even when faced with difficult subjects she struggled against last night, but soldiered on and tried as hard to understand it if her frowning face and her hand taking notes after notes without pause were any indications.

But Taylor wasn't idle either; she tried her hardest to suppress her suspicion and paranoid, replacing it with acknowledgment of Yumeko's seniority and experiences. Condescending thought was much easier to put aside when one realized that the other is not a child, but one raised and grew up in a much different environment from modern Earth.

The fact that this was 60 years before her time also helps, but not by much.

It wasn't perfect though; as many times throughout today's tutoring lesson Taylor had to take a deep breath to calm herself down before she said something she'd regret. Some of it slipped by, but thanks to both sides were trying to reach understanding and accomplish the task set by their mistress, things started to move forward even if it was at a slower pace.

Thinking back to when Yumeko was teaching Taylor how to do her work properly around this castle, Taylor dimly remembered that while she did it with some condescending feeling and a face that told her she wasn't expecting much, she still genuinely accepted her as coworker despite shortcomings. Thus, it wouldn't be fair for Taylor to not do the same to her senior regarding education.

By the end of that night, while they, or rather specifically Yumeko, still a long way to go before the two maids could approach their mistress for a G.E.D. exam set for them, it wasn't fruitless endeavor anymore. As the two of them bid each other good night and climbed onto their respective resting place in a better mood than nights before.

This pattern continued after that night without breaking, work during the day, study at night with slow progress over time. But that was an improvement in Taylor's opinion. And before she knows it, a month passed by with Yumeko at least capable of finishing any mathematics quiz Taylor threw her way.

As much as Taylor wanted to throw a party, Yumeko being Yumeko popped her idea immediately after suggesting it by pointing out that there were still more subjects to go through. While that sapped Taylor's joy for a night, on the next day, she was refilled with vigor and redoubled her efforts on teaching Yumeko with the latter silently complied with her enthusiasm since.

"You learned fast…" Taylor commented one night after they finished a science quiz together hour before their allotted time which surprised her.

Yumeko still has her perfectly neutral expression on when she replied with equally plain voice like nothing was out of ordinary "It's a task set by our mistress, how could I not give it my all to perform?" pausing a bit, she frowned "Though this subject intrigued me a little, who knows that fog can extinguish fire more efficiently than dumping a bucket of water down on it…"

"Surface and heat transfer? Well, theoretically it should…" Taylor replied after glancing over what Yumeko was reading "Useful isn't it?"

"Making a water mist is going to be harder than a large ball of water." Yumeko commented as she put down her pen and crossed her arms in thought "You still expense as much energy and effort as you spent on the latter, but that's my opinion, you have to ask milady for a better idea as I'm no expert in finer mystic arts."

The mention of Shinki effectively brought the two back to the study for their reasons again and stymied the conversation.

The awkwardness of Taylor commenting something useful from modern science from their study sessions will continue for another couple of weeks straight, but it was the most fruitful weeks compared to high school mathematic preceding it. Because it got Yumeko contemplating explanation humans gave to some natural phenomena which may or may not be useful in the future in other applications.

And then, one day after they finished high school physics, the unexpected happened when Yumeko turned to Taylor who was busy writing notes down on her book and asks "Did the fairies give you any trouble today? I heard from 6th-floor guards that you were chasing them around for a while?"

Taylor looked up at her senior, her hand rose up to nudged the nose out of habit despite she no longer wears glasses out of surprise before she replied with small annoyance at the reminder of that incident "It's nothing, Yumeko, just another stupid prank that has me sweeping that floor a second time. I want to throttle those little sh-" she caught herself before sprouting profanity just in time "…those brats I mean."

Yumeko looked at Taylor for a good minute before nodding "At least it's a good practice for you to not drop your guard. I guess you're holding grudge against them no?"

Taylor shook her head and sighed "I can't do that for long, they reminded me too much of my childhood." her eyes drifted upward, seemingly caught in memory as she murmured "Now I kind of understand what my mom must've felt when I was a kid."

However, this time it was Yumeko's turn to be silent and watched her junior reminiscing with confusion and in turn broke Taylor out of her thought "Is there something?"

"Nothing, but we should sleep soon and prepare for the burden tomorrow."

"Killjoy…"

Taylor whispered to herself, closed her notebook and started her routine of preparing for sleep. But when she climbed into her blanket Yumeko suddenly spoke up again "I think we should be taking that… GED or whatever test next week."

Rolling around on her bed, Taylor stared at the ceiling and replied hesitantly "Are you sure Yumeko? I mean I doubt Shinki will let us retry soon should we failed."

"Then we do not fail." Yumeko cut her off firmly, fully believed in her words "I'm confident that I can do it. Thanks to you."

Taylor couldn't help but smiled a little at such confidence, knowing that she wouldn't say that had it not for their efforts together "You're welcome…"

* * *

Unfortunately, next night, the newly minted maid found herself facing another problem with their study; namely, history class.

Normally studious one like Taylor wouldn't find that problematic at all, had not for the fact that historians of this era were not like those at the turn of 21st century on a world populated with parahuman; they interpreted historical events differently from their culture at a time and many archaeological discoveries were yet to happen. These facts affected the way they should answer to get a good score from the mock exam Shinki provided them with, which Taylor found out the hard way that night.

Unfortunately for her, Yumeko already asked for the test from Shinki before they returned to their quarters after daily routine that evening, and no matter how much she asked her senior to postpone their exam out, she won't budge an inch, insisting that going back on their word is the worst offense one could conceive of in front of Shinki.

'Should've seen this coming sooner when she said that Shinki value honesty' Taylor grimaced wordlessly.

A week time of crash course won't let them memorize everything, there was just not enough time to cover all the topics, even American history, young as it was and 60 or so years shorter than what Taylor's used to learn in class in previous life, could take a whole week to finish with how tight their timetable they have on hands.

Not to mention that Yumeko herself couldn't remember half of the thing they went through, tried as she might she just couldn't remember them all and admits as much.

"I'm afraid that we may fail this 'history' test, sorry."

There were some reprieves of course, as her mother once said "historical were study so we can learn from those who came before, and not repeat their mistakes." so instead of trying to remember them all, she decided that debates and opinion should give them a better chance.

"The point of these questions…" Taylor pointed at the offending paragraph laying on the desk between her and Yumeko during one of their nighttime tutorings "…is to see your opinions of events in the past, not to find a correct answer for there's none. As long as it's reasonable, we shouldn't have problems passing this test…" she paused a bit, hesitant showed on her face for the next part "…at least, that's how it goes from where I once lived."

Yumeko crossed her arms, her brows furrowed in thought before she shrugged and wrote down her answers which both will never know whether they will satisfy their mistress or not.

The night of the test came faster than both of them would like to; but alas, there's no avoiding or delaying it any longer and so with dreads and determination, the two of them showed up at Shinki's office after post-dinner works, with Taylor getting the honor to knock the door.

After a short, nervous moment, Shinki's voice rang out telling them to get inside. They both slipped in and were greeted with changes made to her office; two student desks, each with ink bottle and feather pen set, stood side by side next to their mistress's working desk, with said mistress sitting at her usual post alongside two stacks of paper sheet about an inch thick on her desk as well.

Taylor gulped at the sight of the stack before a cough from Yumeko made her schooled her feature back normal on reflex, which earned a giggle from Shinki.

"Now, now, don't stress too much, my children; take your seats and so we may begin."

Joyful voice ushered the two maids to their seat; Taylor to the left and Yumeko to the right of their mistress respectively. Then Shinki clapped her hands, both paper stacks floated up toward student desks and dumped them there.

"You two have until the hourglass is empty…" another wave of her hand and an hourglass appeared on Shinki's desk with sand trickling down the bottleneck "…do your best, my children. I have a matter to attend to."

And then, she walked past Taylor and out of the office, leaving both her and Yumeko alone. Two of them looked at each other before Shinki slammed the door open again in a hurry, causing both of them to nearly jump as she spoke "And that reminds me: All for one and one for all. So both of you please do your best okay?"

She didn't even wait for an answer as she left once again, this time for real.

Taylor was the first to dibbed her given pen into the bottle and started writing down answers on the paper, and soon sound of pen scratching and paper flipping that filled the air as two maids as quickly as possible as the sand slowly trickled down the hourglass.

For Taylor, the exam was a breeze for the most part despite not having much time to prepare over the month of self-tutoring, her basic knowledge pre-bully gives her significant advantage, needing only a little nudge for her to put them all back together.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for her senior, whenever she stole glances at Yumeko, she always greeted with sight of frowning face and golden eyes glaring hole into her test paper, the annoying tapping sound of her finger drumming her desk on occasions and sparsely writing did little to convince Taylor that Yumeko could handle this test either.

Taylor hesitated; on one hand, Shinki made it clear to them that this's combined efforts, not a competition to see who's smarter, thus she should help Yumeko achieve their given task. But on the other hand; custom and modern upbringing ingrained into her since first life told her that to help Yumeko now means cheating the test and disqualification when caught.

And she was certain that they'd get caught; with connection link between minds of servants and master, it wasn't that hard for Shinki to find out.

But then, as she turned another page and saw her English exam. One simple question stood out from the rest, not because of difficulty, not because it questioned her moral, but because it was the exact question which reminded her of the better time in her previous life, when she was young and knew little, before she could attend primary school, when the only teacher in her life was her mother…

One more glance at Yumeko who furiously scribing her answers into papers and her mind made up.

When the last grain of sand dropped to the bottom of Hourglass, the door flung opened and Shinki strode back in right on time, declaring that the exam was now over and shooing them out of the office.

"You all still have works tomorrow, go get some rest. It'll be a while before I can check and grade this for you." And in a fluid motion, their test papers flew back to her desk, leaving no time for the two maids to do any final check on their answers.

Yumeko was the first to bowed "As you wish, Milady, please rest well." and then she slipped out of the office, prompting Taylor to follow. And once their heads hit their pillows, they slept like a log, too tired mentally and physically to worry about the test result.

That didn't mean they won't be worrying about it once the next day rolled around, they were more subdued about it, knowing that the result was out of their hands and nothing they do right now will change it.

Surprisingly, unlike school Taylor attended in her short 15 years of a previous life; Shinki summoned her to her office that night via a message delivered by Yumeko who was always attending to her needs whenever she was present in the castle. Taylor, naturally, inquired her senior about result but Yumeko remained tight-lipped.

"Milady asked me to not say anything to you, my grade included." was her reply, but then she added, "However, that's all she told me, so I do not know whether you passed or not."

As Taylor left their quarter after dinner, Yumeko sends her a small encouraging smile which did lifting her stress a little as she made her way toward Shinki's office with a tray carrying tea set and plate of biscuits for Shinki's late-night snack while she was at it.

Again, Shinki let her in after a polite knock. The student desks disappeared and all the furniture came back to where it has been. Taylor set down the tray on her desk and stood to the side, as per custom groomed by Yumeko.

After she enjoyed her snack and tea, Shinki turned to addressed Taylor with mirth in her voice "First of all, the good news; you passed the GED exam with flying color, my child. Although your history class in a bit lacking, it's still acceptable nonetheless." her lips curved up into a grin as she brought her hand up to her chin in a thoughtful manner "It's always interesting to see how people of the different era thought of the same event from distant past. Perhaps I should venture out and collect history books more often, hmm?"

Taylor tried not to fidget or show any nervousness as taught by Yumeko, but apparently, it wasn't good enough when Shinki crossed her arms in the next moment "Now, that's not the only reason I summoned you here."

Taylor shook her head, curiosity in her mind didn't need to wait long to be sated when Shinki continued without waiting for her vocal replies "I placed scrying spell over my office – a magical equivalent real-time camera – to watched you and Yumeko doing the exam…"

Taylor's heart sank 'So she knows what I was trying to do back then!' while keeping panic from showing on her face, her mind felt the hope of learning mystic art slipping away that she almost didn't hear what Shinki was saying...

"…Taylor, are you still with me?"

"Huh? Yes! Ma'am, what can I do for you?"

Her response managed to elicit a giggle from Shinki who waved her hand telling her to sit down. "Relax, I only want to ask you some questions about what you did. You have nothing to fear."

Taking a deep breath, Taylor resigned herself to her mistress's mercy, preparing to accept any punishment deemed fit despite assuring words from Shinki.

"I saw you glanced at Yumeko several times throughout the exam, it's like you wanted to help her, but you didn't. I want to know why?"

And surprised once again when Shinki kept true to her words that she sputtered out before she could stop herself "Wha… just… just that?"

Shinki nodded while placing her hands on her desk and confirmed it.

"Yes, can you tell me why?"

"You're not going to use our connection, servant-master to dig it out?"

Her paranoid and distrust surfaced yet again which made Shinki showed a sad smile "I trust you to not lie to yourself, child."

That snapped Taylor out of her irrationality, and she replied in a small voice "I was reminded of my mother, Ma'am…"

She met the white-haired woman's gaze, as if afraid that mentioning her first mother would offend her, but it was unfounded as Shinki nodded and told her to continue.

"…My mother once said that some 'help' will do more harm in the long run." As Shinki didn't say anything, Taylor was emboldened and her voice rose up and not trying to avoid looking at Shinki anymore "If I helped Yumeko back then, it'll be admitting that despite the efforts and improvements she did under my observation, I still not trust her enough, and all of that tutoring is meaningless that we might as well simply cheated instead."

She paused to catch her breath. And then continued "…And what that'd mean to Yumeko? It'll be convincing her that she shouldn't bother with this knowledge and then screw up in the future when it's needed? Telling her that I gave up on her despite she never gave up on me when teaching me all those months before. I'd be no better than them…"

Some parts of her mind told her that it was unfair to compared cheating on the exam to those bullies, but Taylor vaguely remembered saying about 'slippery slope' that her mother once said, if she made an exception to this today, then what exception she'd make next? And before she knows it, she'd become just like those bullies and repeat what she suffered on others.

For a long time after Taylor spoke her pieces, both mistress and servant didn't say anything, one sipped her tea and another found her heels more interesting than looking at her charge. But the silence didn't last, it was broken by the ruler of Demonic realm "Look at me, Taylor Hebert."

Taylor complied to her command, depressing thought yet again surfaced only to be crushed down in disappointment when her mistress's gaze was like that of proud mother looking at her spawn "Have I told you that you're not the first soul to travel across space and time and ended up in my realm by some miracle of fate, but the first soul that I resurrected as my maid?"

Taylor's eyes widen; she hadn't thought at that angle before.

Shinki nodded, never avert her eyes from her servant/daughter "Had you be vicious and psychopath, had you been those who lack the determination to live, had you be those who care nothing but their ambition at the expense of others; I'd just called the Grim Reaper to pick you up without talking to you, let alone offering any deal." she stood up and walked over to Taylor, and then suddenly pulled her into a hug before she could react "I didn't disappoint at all. And I'm certain that even your parents, wherever they are now, would be proud of you too."

The embrace lasted only a few seconds before Shinki released her grips. She took a step back to looked her servant's slightly red and surprised expression in amusement "Feeling better now?"

Taylor worked her mouth for a moment before she settled for a nod, still slightly red, but didn't mind "I… I guess so…"

"Now, my child, there're several things I'd like to inform you first, so stay, and listen well…"

Shinki's smile hadn't faded, but the gleam in her silver eyes turned serious "I promised to teach you the art of arcane long lost to the human realm and I never back away from my word. But you, in turn, must promise me that you will never go back on your earlier words about sinking low to those who killed you as well. For this art was lost from humanity for many reasons – and one was because people with the likeness your tormentors."

Taylor's look set in a grim determination and nodded.

Shinki shot out her hands in a gesture "Take my hand and swear your oath." then her lips morphed into a playful smile "Content of your words doesn't matter, your intent to uphold what we discussed prior will suffice. You can even say something nonsensical or tell a joke too. And that's the first lesson in the art of arcane: Intent of the user matters the most!"

Hand of her maid met hers and the oath swore, all the seriousness conveyed through both mind and voice as Taylor felt it would be insulting to try to lighten it up as Shinki suggested.

"I, Taylor Ann Hebert, daughter of Daniel Hebert and Annette Hebert hereby swears; In return of learning the sacred art of magic, I pledge to uphold the code of conducts to not use what I learned for a nefarious purpose, for selfish gains, and trivial petty reasons. No matter what dark and forbidden path lies ahead, I will not shirk this responsibility, so mote shall it be."

After those words left her mouth, Taylor briefly wondered if her mother's occupation influenced her somehow. But that didn't diminish her resolve to do exactly what Shinki asked of her in the slightest; either the first oath which gives her this new life, or this one.

After that, Shinki simply told her of the new schedule for learning magic and then dismissed her. Taylor bid her mistress good night after concluding her ritual and retreated to her quarter. There she found that Yumeko still stays awake sitting at the table reading Physics textbook with mild interest, likely waiting for her as she placed it down and stood up when she opened the door and get in.

"Congratulations on your success, Taylor."

Yumeko greeted Taylor with a smile, something that wasn't so rare now after both of them gets to know each other better over the months.

"But be warn, that lessons ahead will be hard and unforgiving, you must give you all if you wish to succeed."

Taylor didn't comment on the sudden seriousness from Yumeko, it seems to run in the family. Thus, she gave her a curt nod before went to the stove and brew some tea for herself. A light conversation regarding Yumeko's study was made until their cups were empty which Taylor took it upon herself to washed it. After brushing their teeth, the two maids climbed into their bunks and sleep, ready themselves for another day in the castle.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After the first night of her magic lesson under Shinki ended, paranoid part of Taylor's mind started regretting her decision as it was nothing like she imagined at all.

Instead of handing her a wand or a staff and telling her the secret chant of power or giving her a big tome of forbidden knowledge for study, Shinki led her to the top of the tower situated at the west wing of the castle when the night still young. And it was here, under the cloudy red sky of demonic realm, where Shinki ordered her to sit down in seiza position, hands on her lap, and begin a meditation practice.

'This seems to be easy' was Taylor's first thought which she will soon regret thinking.

The first half hour was fine for Taylor, just sitting there, close her eyes and controls her breathing, but when half hour extended to an hour, she began to sweat, her mind slowly but surely drifted to various things. Her breathing shortened as painful memories surfaced from the day her father struggling with the closing of the dock, to her mother's death, to…

Pain blossomed on Taylor's head as Shinki's hand mercilessly whacked her, the motherly kindness seemingly gone with her reprimanding Taylor for the first time since her resurrection, "Stay focus and not let your mind wander, Taylor! Magic needs focus to learn, more so than any other subject you did at your human school!"

Taylor wants to retort that having her sitting here for hours on end wasn't exactly fruitful either, but her words died the moment another whack hit her head as if Shinki knows what she was thinking. "And that's the second lesson in the art of arcane: the intention of caster is all good, but without focus and clear mind you'll not only waste energy but also endanger yourself and anyone close by. Hence the meditation practice!"

And so, she sat and tried to do as Shinki asked, but it was difficult to not try thinking at all.

"Bring your mind back to the present, Taylor." Shinki's voice punctured the silence, "Ponder not the thing that yet to happen. Think about the present about what you're doing, what you can do, what should you do."

Although the 'what should you do' part was obvious for Taylor considering what she was doing for the past couple of hours, some part of her couldn't help but thinking that there're more to it than what Shinki told her. Yet for the life of her, she couldn't figure it out.

The meditation continued for another hour with no apparent success as Taylor's mind kept drifting away, the pain on her legs also getting unbearable making her shaking every so often. Shinki then decided that enough was enough and call it a day with a sigh "It's late now, you may go and get some rest, tomorrow awaits."

Taylor stood up shakily, her legs feel numb from sitting for so long in such uncomfortable position. She did her best to not let it show on her face as she bowed to Shinki, but when she looked at her master and tutor, she was dumbfounded to see a look of remorse on her face.

"Is there something that matter, Ma'am?"

The raven-haired girl asked, although a small part of surviving traitorous and paranoid thought took satisfaction in making her mistress's guilt for whatever she put her through in the past hours, Taylor still felt bad for falling short of the expectation and reminded herself that Shinki already asked her whether to learn or not. Thus, this resulting hardship is all hers.

Shinki's strained smile greeted her as she dismissed Taylor's inquiry "It's nothing, my child. If you wish for another teacher instead of learning from me, then I won't begrudge you for it. I promised to bring you up in the realm of arcane after all. And I won't go back on my word."

Taylor bowed at her mistress again before making for an exit in a rush. She knows that Shinki means well to train her like this, she already made it plenty clear that magic is not a candy to be handed out to any random kid on the street, much less a teenager with a mistrust of authority like her.

Her musing was cut short when she reached her quarters. Again, Yumeko stayed up waiting for her. She was touched how the senior maid showing concern over her, not just as a co-worker, but a friend too, even if she was a bit cold and lack of tact at a time.

"How's your first lesson?"

Despite the downcast look displayed prominently on her face, Yumeko still asked the obvious thing. But they still got works tomorrow and it was pretty late at night now, thus getting the conversation going and to the point as soon as possible was the sensible approach.

"Not very useful. I cannot understand how to attain clear mind she asked me to."

Taylor decided that tact should be thrown out of the window for now and be blunt with it, as she learned that her senior wouldn't mind this slight disrespect much.

Yumeko didn't speak as Taylor made her way to their small kitchen to brew some tea for her and her senior. It was after the water started boiling that she continued the conversation, "She wants to make sure that you'll stay focus when studying, and ultimately when using magic."

"Had I not focused enough during our lesson for that exam?" Taylor asked as she carefully putting tea leaves into the boiling pot and put out the fire. After arranged cups and pot on a tray, she took it back to the table and shot her senior an annoyed look, "I can't see how studying magic would be any different."

Yumeko eyes looked between the steaming teapot and Taylor's, and then replied evenly "I don't think there would be much differences between them, Taylor." She poured herself a cup before continues "It's more pronounced when teaching someone who lived their whole life unaware of magic. And since you fall into that category, Milady wanted to make sure that your mental conditioning from the norm of such society does not hinder your effort in the lesson ahead."

Yumeko then gestured with her free hand telling Taylor to pour herself a cup first while she drank her cup. After letting steaming liquid soothed their dried throats for a bit, Yumeko resumed explanation when Taylor put down her cup, "It's often subconscious thing, whispering in the back of their mind, telling them how what they're about to do is nonsense, waste of time and effort, it can't possibly be real, and many more excuses they deemed 'rational'."

Taylor couldn't fault Yumeko's logic. Despite people with supernatural power running rampant on the world she came from, magic still gets chalked up as 'superstitious nonsense' by the common masses.

But then, her interest was caught up by certain words that her senior said. She put down her cup and asks. "You have experiences teaching magic, Yumeko?"

Yumeko blinked twice before shaking her head and elaborates "No, but I'm a good listener. This castle always visited by many individuals during other seasons. Magical practitioners, scholars, or even initiates are among them, which I had to cater to apart from Milady from time to time."

Yumeko quickly directed her back to what they were discussing earlier "Now, back to the problem at our hands. Meditation is one of the methods which magic users across many schools and realms used to help clear their mind of these stray, negative thoughts. Along with keeping them focused on what they're doing. As Milady should've already told you, intent and focus are the most important things in spellcasting."

Taylor nodded, which allowed Yumeko to bluntly stating another fact "Not counting myself, Milady never had any other students in arcane art before, and we were born in the realm which magic involved in everyday life. My best guess is that is what caused this difficulty to you."

Looking down at her half-full cup, Taylor nodded, but then another curiosity struck her and she didn't hesitate to asks "Then why meditation? You said that there're other methods out there too?"

Yumeko glanced toward the window in their quarters, out into the darkness of the night and sighed "She has a friend who's a monk, Buddhist monk to be exact, and that's where she learned the technique from." she then looked pointedly at Taylor "…the several weeks she disappeared after your arrival, she visited her to asked for an advice how to best teach you."

Taylor frowned "Not to disrespect Shinki, but why can't she let this monk teach me?"

"She was sealed…" Yumeko instantly replied, but when seeing Taylor's confused face, she quickly adds "I mean she was imprisoned in a containment cell specifically made for her with no way to break out."

Taylor's asked in bewilderment "What sort of crime did she commit that led to her getting imprisoned in the first place? I mean, isn't monk supposed to be a religious figure who dedicated their life for peace and self-enlightenment?"

Yumeko nodded with an expression that looks like she couldn't decide whether to get annoyed or feels sorry for whoever poor monk was before she sighed "That's not my place to say. While she did commit a crime, her naivety to believe that human society she was part of will be willing to change their way of thinking like her also played a part in her downfall a long time ago."

Immediately, Taylor's mind began comparing this 'mysterious monk' to several martyrs in history. And then she asks "Is she from around Makai?"

Yumeko shook her head "No, she was a human from the human realm – parallel Earth as you called it. From when supernatural still roamed the land and magic an integral part in the noble court of the ruler of the land." She tapped her chin in thought before continues "I believe it's a few centuries ago since she showed up here."

"Wait," Taylor stopped Yumeko "How can a human alive for that long anyway? Is this related to magic too?"

A nod confirmed what Taylor asked followed by Yumeko's verbal response "Yes, human magicians are known to extend their life beyond what their normal lifespan permitted thanks to either elaborate or side effects of their studies. There're also hermits and many other methods, but all involved magic one way or another."

Taylor looked thoughtful for a moment, rummaging through her knowledge about theology which is extremely limited compared to parahuman knowledge "So she extended her life by some means, while Buddhism taught that everything has an end. I can guess where those so-called 'criminal charge' came from."

Yumeko looked at Taylor with little surprise shown on her face, before nodding "Perhaps that might be the case."

"But why Shinki did not let her out?" Taylor asked, partly due to her curiosity why would a Goddess who created this whole world couldn't do a simple task of freeing someone from their confinement which happens to be falling into her domain.

"Because the captive asked not to."

Again, the answer flabbergasted the young maid so much that the only response from her is simple exclamation "What?!"

"That's my reaction too when I first learned of her through Milady." Yumeko replied with a frown on her face, "but alas, Milady honored her wish and never free her. There must be a personal reason for that which is not ours to pry, so I'd suggest you let it rest now."

"I… see…"

Taylor agreed reluctantly even though a minor part of her mind demands answer, alas, they're not in a position to demand it. She looked at the empty cup in her hands, and then the magical clock on the table and realized how much time has passed, thus she decided on the final question of that night.

"Is there any advice you can give me Yumeko? Please?"

The two maids stared at each other for a long while with the senior one looking thoughtful while the junior one looking nervous yet didn't avert her gaze as if trying to show her opposite how serious she was at solving her dilemma.

Finally, Yumeko nodded in approval and spoke: "All I can advise you is to focus your mind, like how our study sessions during the last week went."

Seeing the look on Taylor's face, Yumeko continues "Do not think like 'how awesome I'd be if I learned magic' only think about right now when you're meditating, reflect upon yourself, who are you? What are you doing? Or even your breathing, focus to make it even and continuous. Something like that." she shrugged "I used to do it when starting out as a maid, as I was easily distracted back then. Meditation helped me focus on what I am doing and thus helped me complete the task faster."

Yet Taylor still looked confused, Yumeko frowned a little, but still patiently explaining to her as much as she could without any annoyance in her words "Many monks I've met in my time would've said the same thing but in a more cryptic way. Or maybe I missed meanings during the conversation, but I'm confident that I get the core of it right."

It makes sense to Taylor, but then she had to stifle a yawn, her tired mind struggled to think further. Her reaction couldn't escape her senior's notice and thus she decided to end in for the night whilst wishing Taylor good luck in tomorrow's lesson as a parting word before both drifted into sleep.

* * *

'Maybe I'm a bit too hard on her?'

Shinki thought as she waited for Taylor on the same tower that she taught Taylor how to meditate the night before. As the ruler and creator of Makai realm, she doesn't have many works to do especially during 'Winter' or 'Cold season' as her subjects usually called it, thus she was free almost as soon as dinner, unlike her servants.

And that gave her time to review what transpired the other night. Shinki couldn't say that her attempt was a success, quite opposite if she honest with herself.

Taylor was the second being whom she took up as a pupil in arcane art with the first being Yumeko. The lack of experience in teaching was clear to herself enough that she even offered Taylor to find a more suitable teacher in the art despite it was only the first day.

'Perhaps we have things in common more than I thought… abandonment still haunting me after all this time...'

Even if it's true that each individual is suitable to one type of magic, that did not excuse her poor attempt at explaining the basic and fundamental reason for meditation practice to Taylor. She was rather doubtful if Taylor will show up tonight.

But the moment she thought as such, the door leading to the battlement flung open and Taylor in her usual maid attire strode in. Once she noticed her mistress, Taylor bowed before walking up to her, determination clear in her eyes and voice that greeted Shinki "I'm ready for today's lesson, Ma'am."

Shinki's smile wasn't wide, but her happiness radiated through nonetheless that such setback didn't deter the young girl. She instructed Taylor to do as yesterday, and the girl did so without question.

This time Taylor stayed in meditation for hours without a twitch and not fall asleep at all. Yumeko joined her roughly hour after the beginning of meditation, but she too opted for silently observing like her mistress.

Once three hours passed and Taylor was still in a trance with slow and even breathing, Shinki decided that it was enough and called her "That's all right, Taylor, you can stop now."

Taylor opened her eyes and tried to stand up but then winced at her numbed legs. Wordlessly, Yumeko reached for Taylor and pulled her up. Taylor shakily stood on her feet and shot Yumeko a thankful glance before turning to Shinki and bows slightly, "I have a question, Ma'am."

Shinki nodded "We're teacher and pupil right now, so go ahead."

Received permission, Taylor did just that, but not before she glanced hesitantly at Yumeko who was standing next to Shinki "I asked Yumeko about empty one's mind and curious how can it let one achieve one's goal? Isn't setting one's goal will be a better method to motivate and for people to not be led astray?"

Shinki hummed while sporting a thoughtful look before replies "When you looked into the future, you're not looking at the present. For the untrained, their mind will wander, imagines of what could've been, what going to happen instead of the now, and that's a dangerous thing to do in the art of arcane." she paused, "especially for someone who never exposed to it for their entire life."

"I… see…" Taylor's mind then connected the dots "wait, does that mean there're other methods to focus one's mind out there too?"

Surprisingly, Shinki confirmed her theory "Yes, but it's probably not suited your mindset at the moment, that's why I chose this one."

One part of Taylor's mind wanted to grill Shinki on how could she know that it wouldn't work for her, but another part told her to let it rest as plenty of hints has been given and she knows the answer already.

Seeing that she has no question left, Taylor bowed again, "Thank you for your lesson, Ma'am."

Shinki shook her head, "Remember the state of your mind when meditate, child, so you minimize the danger of your arcane going haywire or giving you the undesired outcome."

Taylor realized where the conversation was leading immediately "I have to practice it."

It wasn't a question at all.

"Meditation is more useful than just putting one's mind into a proper state for magic casting. I believe that Yumeko already told you that much, right?"

The young maid nodded silently at Shinki's roundabout answer, prompting her mistress to give her further instruction, "You'll continue to practice meditation every day, at the very least once before you go to bed. For the arcane art, we'll begin the day after tomorrow."

Yumeko nodded at Taylor while the latter bowed to her mistress with a stoic face which contrasts with her joyous voice "Thank you, Ma'am!"

Shinki didn't take offense to that slip-up, she mirthfully chuckled before dismissing both of her maids for the night, which everyone obliged.

As they made their way through the almost empty crystal hallway lit up with magic lamps, Taylor struck another conversation with her senior as they passed through another pair of armored demonic guards "I never ask you before, but how long the winter last in this land?"

Yumeko quirked her eyebrows at the out of the blue question, but answers nonetheless "Four months, it'll be over in about four weeks from now."

"I see…" Taylor replied before asked worriedly "…so this castle will get livelier soon right?"

Yumeko quickly noticed the hidden meaning and took a step to address her worry "Even if you cannot use magic to help with the housework in time of the end of winter gathering, Milady will not begrudge you for it. She never that petty."

Eyes widen, Taylor apologized "I'm sorry."

Corner of the senior's lip quirked up a little "You have nothing to apologize for."

They turned a corner and down the stairs before Yumeko continued their conversation "While magic has its own rules on how it functioned and fully replicable by those who aware and put their effort into it, the one who delved into the art of harnessing it rarely advance their study at the same rate unlike your modern-day education curriculum."

Taylor didn't speak, but she listened to her senior with rapt attention while also paying attention to her step. "Thus, it might take you days, weeks, months, or even years to master it. The monk we discussed yesterday took decades to mastered her art."

'Well, old master much?' thought Taylor before her mind returned to the present along with worries.

"Taylor, you're daydreaming again." comment from Yumeko brought her attention to her senior whose smile vanished and replaced with a frown "Just a few moments and you forget the meditation lesson already?"

The scolding while light-hearted did remind Taylor that she has a long way to go before she can wield magic properly. If she was still her old, bullied self, she may hate and ignore Yumeko. But now, after all these months, she couldn't bring herself to hate Yumeko for pointing it out, as she knows that it was of genuine concern and not of malice.

As they reached the quarter to turn in for the night, she spoke up to both promise herself and to address her senior "I'll have to try harder then."

"Just not overdo it." Yumeko advised sagely as she closed the door behind "After all, we have responsibility, and time is the limited resource that cannot be increased in any way, shape, or form…" she paused and then added as she suddenly remembered another important fact "…unless you happened to specialize in both Time and Space magic, but we wouldn't know."

Taylor couldn't disagree with that.

* * *

The time she returned to the tower came as a surprise to Taylor by how much the lesson differed from the movies she once watched in her previous life where the protagonist learned of the equivalent of magic for the first time.

"When your scientists can define solar radiation, which is invisible to your eyes, why not try to apply that kind of thinking to magical energy?"

But on second thought, it should be obvious Shinki would tailor her advice to make sure someone from another society devoid of mystical art like Taylor could understand and pick up easily instead of being dramatic like those in the shows. It made her feel more grateful to her mistress even if she still struggling to 'feel the magical energy that surrounding herself and be everywhere' like her mistress instructed to do.

And she couldn't help but commented on it while sitting in meditating stance on the same tower she practiced meditation previously "The only thing I'm feeling is the chilling wind on my face, Ma'am."

Her voice lacked sarcasm, only frustration that she couldn't feel anything that could be the magical energy at all. Or perhaps she felt it but disregarded it subconsciously like Yumeko once said.

To her credit, Shinki didn't get angry or disappoint, she continued to patiently explain as best as she could "Think about it another way, energy existed in many forms, heat, chemical, kinetic are some that you should familiar with. Why not add this energy to that list."

"I thought magic is supposed to be supernatural…"

Shinki smiled at the remark and proceed to corrects Taylor "It is supernatural indeed my child, as it is highly malleable and respond only to the will of those who could harness it rather than to law of physics you know of. That's why it's hard to sense or grasp, for it is not something you could easily observe with normal means even when it's everywhere, inside and surround both living and non-living, ready to be used."

As if her words emboldened her, Taylor fell into a meditative trance once more, trying to clear her mind of stray thought and focused entirely on what her mistress taught.

The time for the lesson was almost up when she finally felt something indescribable by word, it was neither warmth nor cold, not wind brushing against her body since it's a windless night.

"Nice one Taylor, now imagine the energy collated into a single point in front of you."

Shinki's voice instructed her as if she knew what's on Taylor's mind. Some times ago she would've freaked out at the idea of people reading her thought even if it's in the contract she signed to return to the living world. But now it was comforting, both to know that she was making a progress in the right direction and to know that the teacher has an interest in seeing her succeed unlike those she experienced at Winslow.

She did as her mistress asked with calmness and focus. A minute passed before her mistress's voice called out to her again, telling her to open her eyes…

Taylor found a ball of soft-glowing blue light floating a few inches from her face, but a surprise made her focus slipped and the ball dissipated into fading sparks. A giggle drew her attention to her white-haired mistress "Oh my, your reaction certainly brings back my memories." and then she quickly dispels her worries "That's a usual reaction, my child. Not many could contain the excitement on their first try."

Taylor released a breath she didn't know she was holding in relief and then refocused her mind with hands stretched out. And sure enough, the ball of light reappeared, hovering between her hands. A joyous smile graced the maid's lip as she popped the light time and again as if to confirm that she wasn't dreaming while paying no attention to her teacher and mistress who watched silently with amusement twinkling in her eyes.

Another clap brought Taylor back to her sense as she quickly dispelled her ball of light by her will. With a hand gesture from Shinki, she stood up with her attention drawn to her mistress, waiting for either instruction or lesson to learn.

"Now that you have proven the existence of this force with your own senses, I'll be giving you a question." Shinki voice gained a serious undertone, a cue that Taylor slowly picked up over the time she served here "What is the purpose in studying magic?"

Taylor was about to answer "To help me serve you better!" but hold her tongue at the last second when she noticed that Shinki never asks about "Her purpose" but the purpose of magic in general.

Seeing confused and lost look on Taylor's face Shinki spoke up again "I do not expect your answer right now or even at the end of our lesson, my child. It's something that will come naturally when experiencing the worlds and each people have a different answer, so keep that in mind. But for now, remember that magical energy, mana, life force, or however you wish to call it is everywhere and always been there, waiting for those who aware of it to tap and use for their designs."

Taylor bowed at Shinki and then they both took their leave for the night. And again, she found her senior maid waiting back at their quarter. She felt a little guilty by now that she'll keep disturbing Yumeko's rest time by doing these nightly lessons in the foreseeable future, and with the realization of how huge the castle was and how Yumeko had to clean the whole bloody place by herself considering how small Taylor's workload in comparison, she got a newfound respect for her senior.

"So, you finally proved to yourself the existence of magic…" Yumeko greeted her from her usual spot at the table "You learned quickly."

That remark elicited a surprise from the junior as she was certain that Yumeko couldn't read mind nor did she met with Shinki before, and she doubts that Shinki would tell her right after the lesson through their 'link' too.

"Your smile was a little wider than usual earlier. That's why I took a guess."

Yumeko seems to know what she was thinking and helpfully pointed it out. Which only made Taylor's pale cheek gained a shade of pink from both embarrassment and annoyance directed at herself for being so easy to read. But she calmed her thought quickly while sitting down for their almost-routine late-night conversation.

Without any theatrics, Taylor opened her mouth the moment she sat down "It's quite a surprise for me too. I didn't expect it to be this… simple…"

She couldn't exactly say it was easy, as it wasn't, but she didn't think that to achieved this much in a single day has to count for something.

Yumeko's next statement was as if she was reading her thought, "Most magical apprentice takes weeks, if not months, to forms that little ball of light out of nothing. So, yes, learning to do it in a couple of days do takes special talents." then she added as an afterthought "...or stubborn determination and drives to succeed."

Part of Taylor wanted to preen at the praise her almost-stoic senior leveled at her, but Yumeko has to dash her hope by the next sentence "But this's just a first step, whether you'll find any magic you excel in is another story."

The new information made Taylor blinked "There're specialties too?"

Yumeko let out a huff and explained "Something that any specific magician can do very well. Those that can do everything are very rare, and now they're much rarer after the decline of supernatural in the human realm."

Her explanation sparked the curiosity in Taylor and she didn't hesitate to asks "I've heard that a while ago but I didn't ask about it. How can a magic decline when the energy is always everywhere?"

This time, Yumeko shook her head "I'm sorry that I cannot answer that question. My knowledge is rather limited on that regard. Only thing I can say is that nothing stays the same forever."

Taylor understood the latter part of Yumeko piece of advice as she personally experienced it. And that brought up a question Shinki has asked her earlier, but before she could ask Yumeko to clarify, she was interrupted by an unladylike yawn from her own mouth which prompted her senior to tell her to turn in for the night. After brushing her teeth and climbed up on her bed, Taylor falls asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, thought of Shinki's question left her for the time being.

After all, Shinki said it herself that answer will come after she experiencing the world, and it's just a short fifteen years for her confined to a small world and society before coming here.

But now, there's mistress to serve and castle to clean, it wouldn't do to not get proper rest to prepare for the work. When she could make it trivially easy to halved Yumeko's workload, maybe she'd find some free times to explore.

One can hope, after all...


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Taylor hummed as she casually wiped away burnt grease stain on the frying pan that one of the cooks in the Pandemonium Castle left unattended a bit too long due to fairies causing a mess (again). Magical sigil flared up on her hand briefly and the burnt substance sloughed off from the iron frying pan down toward the waiting trash bin at her feet without leaving any residue the moment her cleaning rags brushed past.

When one thinks of supernatural power on Earth Bet, they'd often thought of some awesome combat abilities that allow you to fight in a mask or invent and create things to do the same.

It turned out that magic has more uses than just simply shooting fireball or cursing at things you don't like. The simplest spell like what she was using also impressive on their own. Perhaps even more so than parahuman ability in that it's replicable, not something unique to individual unless said individual invented their own proprietary magic, but it still only remained such until someone else figured out the mechanic behind it or the owner decided to pass it down to their apprentices.

Taylor refocused her mind back to the present as she finished washing the frying pan as clean as her eyes could see. She let the water dripped into the sink as she inspected the cookware in her hands one more time.

At this point, most people would've called it a job well done, but for someone who started studying magic a month ago, Taylor finds the need to up those standards a bit along with getting some practices done while on duty.

Her senior or her mistress/teacher won't mind anyway, on the contrary, they actually encouraged it. After all, why study magic when you're not going to use it?

The air around her heated up, evaporating every droplet of water on the frying pan, drying her cloth and cleaning rags. Once finished, she placed it on a rack before bringing her dirty cleaning rags to wash one more time.

Taylor frowned as she noticed some grime has dried and stuck on the cleaning rags due to her magic. Truly her control still not up to par yet if she couldn't focus the heat to only the frying pan, or even the fact that there shouldn't be anything stick to her rags in the first place when she dislodged those unwanted matters down the bin with magic, and it's been a month already…

'A month, huh?' Taylor mused, lost in thought while she moved on autopilot to one of the empty kitchen sinks to wash the dirty rags 'time sure flies.'

It has been a month since she started studying magic and almost 3 months since her reincarnation. Normally Taylor would've worried sick of her father by now, and in truth, she still does. But the only thing that held her back from finding a way to return to Earth Bet was the fact that it's practically impossible to find her home universe in the multiverse full of possibilities.

Not to mention that she went back in time, if this Earth timeline was in sync with Earth Bet, returning home right now mean returning to the Earth Bet when her father wasn't even born yet. And Taylor read enough time travel fictions in her previous life to know how disrupting the timeline ended for the protagonist of such stories.

At first, she was skeptical about it, but Shinki's foray into the 'Human realm' as she called it brought back a lot of evidence that supported her claim from Time Magazine to a brand-new physic book signed by Albert Einstein himself. They were too detailed to be a fake to lull her into staying here as her servant in her opinion.

Thus, she now accepted that she might never live to see her father again. After all, this's 60 years in the past, she'd be an old grandmother by the time she reached her teen in the previous life. And that practically mean returning to Earth Bet is somewhat pointless.

While Yumeko supplied her that there're ways to achieve eternal youth with magical means, Taylor didn't want to hope as she was still struggling with basic spells after a month of studying. Reassurance from her senior that people took years or even decades to study magic did little to improve her self-confidence.

Shaking her head, Taylor brought her mind back to the present as she stowed the rags away in the Medieval equivalent of janitor's cupboard and then making her way to Shinki's office. Shinki has summoned her and Yumeko to meet after their job for the day was done in the afternoon to discuss about "The End of Winter Gathering", an annual ritual where rulers across the Makai will send their envoys to gather at the Pandemonium Castle to receive blessing from the one who created this world for them to live on.

At least, that was the official reason. Yumeko told her another perspective of how Pandemonium Castle and the town surrounding its wall was a neutral ground where each faction could negotiate and settle matters peacefully. Violence in this place was forbidden and enforced by Shinki herself.

That tidbit put small doubts in Taylor's mind regarding Shinki's role in creating this Earth/World. After all, if she's all-powerful and a goddess of this World, why there still conflicts and problems? She pondered about this since she learned of it yesterday and kept it to herself for now until she has a proper time to ask about it from her mistress.

After all, she made it a point to be honest with her and keep her words so far. So, Taylor was confident that she will answer her question truthfully instead of getting mad at her like a certain principal in certain school she attended in the previous life which she's now regretted.

As she was making her way past one of the halls, Taylor's internal musing was interrupted by something white, ticklish, and fluffy brushed past her nose, tickled and make her sneezed.

"You're spacing out. That's dangerous whether you're on the battlefield or not."

The unfamiliar stoic voice with a small hint of joy chimed as Taylor recovered from her sneezing and looked at the source… and then let out a gasp of surprise…

Standing mere inches away from her was a woman she never met before. The first description that came to her mind was that the woman reminded her of the sky, from her pure white hair cut in bob reaching just her neck to her bright blue eyes with blue marking at the corners, to her choice of clothing of white oriental long-sleeves, ankle-length dress, and a pair of white sandals. It was as if this woman was specifically dressed to contrast the dark red and purple scheme that Shinki seems to favor.

However, those are not what caught Taylor's attention, it was nine white fluffy fox tails poking out from behind the woman along with a pair of fox ears on top of her head instead of the normal human's one indicating her inhuman nature.

Before she could form up a response, one of the woman's tails reached out and patted lightly on Taylor's head causing her to took a step back out of reflex, which made the woman chuckled.

"Your reflex needs a lot more works, but alas, expecting more from a civilian who never saw combat in her entire life is a bit too much."

The mysterious woman's comment finally brought out a response from Taylor in form of taking another step back and assume a defensive posture, her eyes glancing around looking for guards to call upon this unfamiliar face should she proved to be dangerous.

"I never see you around here before, what business do you have here Ma'am?"

But as she was currently facing this stranger this close without any backup close by, it is unwise to provoke her thus she opted for politeness instead of running away screaming off her lung like she normally would in the previous life.

The tails behind the woman swayed around a little as she smiled at Taylor causing her to sweats before the woman spoke up again. "Your bravado means nothing without strength to back it up. Your 'aura' reeks fear and even your eyes did little to hide it."

Taylor's eyes widen at the comment which caused the woman to chuckled lightly "Had I truly have malicious intent then you'd be dead or at the very least went to the dreamland by now. But alas, that's not the case here and thus you have nothing to fear. Taylor Hebert."

Yet another surprise for Taylor, this mysterious fox-woman knew her name somehow and that caused her paranoia to surged forth instead of subsiding as the woman expected. The only thing preventing Taylor from running away screaming "Intruder!" was her gut instinct telling her that doing so means death before the first word ever left her mouth. Her behavior also reflected the panic inside her mind with short-rapid breathing and refusal to move.

Thankfully she was saved when a deep baritone voice called out from the end of the hall, a goat-demon guard named 'Hircus' that Taylor occasionally interacted with whenever she has to clean this floor. She backed away slowly, hopefully, Hircus could hold this intruder long enough for her to alert others and…

"Ma'am! You're back."

…Her thought ground to a halt. It wasn't what she'd expected and froze Taylor on the spot. 'They know each other? What's going on here?'

But at least it grabbed the woman's attention away from Taylor as she turned to regards Hircus, and then the fox-woman put her hands on her hip before sighing, her tone almost bereft of any emotion except a tinge of amusement "I waltzed this deep into the castle and you only noticed right now? I taught you guys better than this…"

The goat-demon guard looked down with shameful expression under the woman's gaze and muttered. "I'm deeply sorry, it won't happen again Ma'am."

A pregnant silence reigned for a moment before the fox-woman dismissed the guard "See that you do." and then she turned around and addressed Taylor who was a few steps away from her "Taylor, are you not going to see Lady Shinki?"

Her call froze Taylor mid-step, as she stood there like deer in the headlight while the fox-woman walked up to her and spoke up without waiting for her reply "The letter she sent me…" a piece of paper appeared from blue flame that lit up over her open palm which held in front of the maid "… mentioned that she request me and your presence today, had she not told you that?"

Taylor shook her head, it's not like she could say otherwise as Shinki indeed only request her presence and not mentioning this fox-woman at all.

The fox woman sighed, but her voice remains even as she addressed Taylor "Not trusting a stranger on their first encounter is a good intuition. But sometimes that intuition is detrimental to the strength of one's social life."

Taylor wasn't sure if that meant to be a word of wisdom or a trap until Hircus spoke up to assure her "She's the guard chief of the Pandemonium Castle, but she always on leave to visit her birthplace during the cold season, that's why you only met her right now."

The explanation given was sound, and when a quick glance around the hall revealed other guards of this floor passed by while doing an equivalent of salute to the fox-woman without anyone rising any fusses, Taylor decided that she would leave this for Shinki and Yumeko to sort it out. Which mean getting to the office first.

"Since we're going to the same place anyway, will you accompany me to Shinki's office?"

The fox-woman pre-empted Taylor's idea which she decided to went along. The fox-woman led the way with Taylor trailing behind, partly due to how Yumeko trained her and partly because she doesn't think she could trust her back with this fox-woman yet.

"Walk alongside me, Taylor, I wish to talk with you."

And of course, the fox-woman noticed it too. Reluctantly, Taylor quickened her pace until she was side by side with the woman, while keeps glancing warily at her companion almost every step.

"You adapted well for a reborn human who never believes in magic."

It didn't take long for the fox-woman to starts a conversation. Her voice remained calm and even which makes Taylor even more nervous and unsure of what to say. In the end, she settled with a simple question that will hopefully fish some information from her.

"Did the guards told you about me?"

The woman stopped suddenly. A flash of blue flame on one of her fox tails made Taylor jumped in fright, yet her fear was unfounded as the flame subsided soon after leaving a blue glowing shape resembled a bird gently landed on the woman's shoulder.

Taylor watched with fascination as the fox-woman made a hand gesture and let the glowing bird-like shape took to the air. It fluttered its wings and energetically circling around both of them silently. And when the bird made a second pass around her, the fox-woman spoke up.

"The glow was only there to impress people, from nobility to common citizen." the bird landed on the woman's topmost tail with its glow subsiding down to nothing, leaving a very lifelike blue feather bird staring down on the maid in front of its master "I can control them from far away, anything it learned, I learned."

Taylor understood the implication clearly, this's the woman's eyes and ears to look around the castle without being detected, especially during the start of the warm season where flocks of birds are flying around daily like this. And thus the mystery of how fox-woman avoided all guards all the way here was solved, or rather, theorized by Taylor.

Satisfied, the fox-woman turned away to get moving only to turn back and confront Taylor once again with a smiling face which eerily looks like a predatory grin "Almost forget I haven't introduced myself properly to you hmm…"

And then she did just that without waiting for the maid's reply, introducing herself "I'm Hakuryu, the white fox, the security chief of Pandemonium castle, and many monikers people thrust upon me, but you can simply call me Haku like I told everyone here…" she then muttered in the most boring voice "…anything else is quite a mouthful or annoying after all."

Her hand shot forward while her blue eyes looked into Taylor's brown expectantly. Taylor looked between the waiting hand and the woman's face in hesitation. After all, she's but a servant and Yumeko spend the majority of her first week drilled that in. Should she do what the woman asking her to do?

Thankfully she was saved by the appearance of her senior out of thin air by her signature space manipulation spell. The blonde maid looked between Hakuryu and her and then sighed in exasperation "Do not intimidate her too much, Lady Haku. And Shinki is expecting both of you."

Haku retracted her hand, shot Yumeko an annoyed glare while Taylor breaths a sigh of relief. If Yumeko sees this woman as trustworthy, maybe she's too paranoid after all.

Soon, the group of three reached and entered the ruler's office without anyone attempting to restart the conversation until Shinki greeted them, or specifically, Haku.

"I take it that the New Year over there is still as enjoyable as the previous year."

Haku shook her head, her fox tails waved slightly as she calmly reported the ongoing conflict as if discussing weather from where she stood, next to Taylor and Yumeko to the side of Shinki's working desk "The festivity was soured by the events in North Korea. Humans are worried. But you should already know that."

It took Taylor a moment to remembered what she once learned in history class in previous life and what she learned upon rebirth into this world 'Oh, right, the Chinese's intervention in Korean War.' she tried her hardest not to frown in front of her mistress who falls into discussion about Haku's vacation 'So even in alternate Earth, things still happen similar to my home.'

"…and I think you already met Taylor, right? Taylor?"

"Oh… sorry, Ma'am! Just thinking."

Of all the people in this modest office, only Yumeko showed a sign of disapproval of her behavior, Haku's face was impassive but her blue eyes looked discerning, while Shinki only hid her mouth with her hand, eyes gleamed with a mischievousness that gives her dread.

"Oh my, I never expect you to fall in love with the local this early. Can you tell me who's the lucky guy? Is it Hircus? Haku said you talked to him on your way here."

Taylor couldn't help but gave her mistress a deadpan look, but then she realized that her mistress never spoke about such thing before. Was it because of the presence of this Haku fox-woman?

Recalling her one of her lessons with Shinki, Taylor focused her power and activates Mage Sight to looked around the office for signs of abnormalities, ignoring everyone in the office in the process.

At first, she thought that she was being too paranoid as everything looked normal, but then she noticed statics and distortions like how older TVs behave during a thunderstorm at the corner of her vision which she almost missed.

But before she could prepare a spell to dispel the anomaly, a glass-shattering noise resounded, accompanied by fading images around her which show… Shinki's office with all occupants in the same position as before, except that Shinki was smiling and clapping and Haku was looking at her with raised eyebrow… what?

"That's… acceptable…"

"You never fail to impress me, Taylor. But on the other hand, don't you think this's a bit too much, Haku? Was it necessary to fuel her paranoia?"

"I have to see the child's strength before making the decision."

A stoic voice of Haku broke the silence first, followed by her mistress scolding the stoic fox-woman who merely shrugged at Shinki's accusation.

But for Taylor, all the praises and arguments flew over her head as she demanded some answers from her boss, politely of course.

"Ma'am, pardon me for speaking out of turn, but what's this all about?"

Shinki and Haku paused their argument and looked at Taylor, one with a sheepish grin and another with an impassive face. It was at this point that the blonde senior maid answered the question in their stead while leveling a mild disapproving glare at her junior.

"Lady Haku cast an illusion spell on you to test if you can detect it or not."

Shifting her ire at the fox-woman in white, Taylor found that Haku simply looked back at her as if daring her to retaliate for trying to harm her, which infuriated Taylor a lot.

Before she could explode, the fox-woman preemptively shut her down with her explanations "Unless you can remain vigilant against all subterfuges with the strength to at least doing something about it, I'll be asking you to leave the castle until the gathering is concluded."

"Of course, doing something, in this case, is you warn the others about it, not pick a fight with the suspicious person." Shinki quickly added with seriousness in her voice leaving no room for argument, which was something that Taylor could agree to as well seeing that she had neither offensive ability nor experience to outfight a professional fighter.

"We did not have any incidents during the annual gathering yet as far as I can remember." Yumeko clarified much to the relieve of her junior "But as Lady Haku said, that did not mean we do not remain vigilant during the event."

The explanation cooled Taylor down but she still mad at Haku, and the latter knows it too. Yet despite knowing what Taylor probably thinking with a not-so-subtle glare directing at her, the next sentence from her mouth was still sounded as uncaring as every word she ever said since their first meeting in the hallway.

"If you're bitter about the truth, then get stronger."

The content also did little to settle things, if anything, it was like pouring another bucket of gasoline on the smothering fire and fanned it.

"It's not like everyone is a Cape since birth like you!"

Sure enough, Taylor couldn't hold herself back any longer. Fear and stresses that bottled up in her mind since the first meeting transformed into rage. In a fit of anger, she ignored Shinki and Yumeko, voice raised and straightened her back as if trying to appear intimidating to the opposite fox-woman, except that Haku was slightly taller than her even when discounting her fluffy tails, combined with her almost-perfect poker face, said intimidation factor was dispelled completely.

Yumeko tried to took a step to address this blatant disrespect and loss of self-control in front of her mistress, but caught sight of Shinki shaking her head and stopped, watching the scene played out before them as her mistress silently decreed.

"Not everyone starts at the same line, but it's the finish line that matter in the end." the unfazed fox-woman continued in even tone while turning to the side with her eyes keeping unwavering glare at Taylor who was glaring back "Instead of channeling all that energy into hollow posturing and threats, you better off use that to prove me wrong and strive for the better."

Taylor was clearly seething, all her composure drilled into by Yumeko gone up in burning rage. The posture and mannerism of Haku right now have dug up an unpleasant memory in her past life.

The fact that her magical study still not enough to fight the being in front of her flew out of the window as her anger clouded her judgment. The magical glow lit up on Taylor's hand without knowing what to do with it. Curse? Fireball to that expressionless face? It doesn't matter, all that matter was that this fox-woman reminded her too much of certain trio and she knows from her previous life that being passive and let them trampled without fighting back only led to her death.

She won't be like that again!

The brunette's fist lashed out at the woman, aiming to deck the woman's face and let it bleed just like how she once bled after being pushed down the stairs. She barely noticed Yumeko who stepped out of the way between them.

Except that the blow never connects, Haku easily sidestepped the blow despite the relatively cramped space they were in. Then her hand snatched Taylor's outstretched arm just before it could hit the bookshelf, and in a single fluid motion, she pulled Taylor forward, lifted the brunette up from the ground and then spun around in a whirl of white. And before Taylor could realize what's going on, she was already landed hard on her back on the floor with Haku's palm pressing on her chest, which somehow made her limbs went limp and unable to move at all.

Haku who was kneeling beside Taylor frowned, her blue eyes conveyed disapproval but her slightly curved lip seems to tell something else.

"There're at least four kinds of weaklings in the multiverse, one refused to acknowledge that everything has weaknesses and strength including oneself, they were blinded in their own little world. Another seeks to prey on others to conceal one's own, pretending that they're strong and hide their issues."

The last part of Haku's sentence was spat out acidly, her frown deepened which made it sounds like she was disgusted at herself. For Taylor, it somehow reminded her of her bullies in her past life.

"And then, there're those who acknowledged oneself weaknesses, but those also separated into one that meekly accepts all the abuses as if they deserve it and the one who seeks to remedy it. Which kind of weakling you want to be?"

"And how that change anything? It's not like you're going to be teaching me anyway."

Taylor couldn't help but angrily asked back, which elicited a predatory smirk on Haku's face which sends a shiver down her spine in return.

"All the guards in this castle were taught by me, young Taylor…" Haku replied back with a small hint of amusement in her voice "So I'm going to offering you a deal; If you can pass my evaluation, then you can stay here during the annual gathering, if not, then I'll send you to live with my acquittance in the downtown until this event is concluded. What's your answer?"

With that, Haku lifted her hand off Taylor and stood up, the feeling of numbness in her limbs also went away almost miraculously allowing Taylor to follow her lead. The brunette's face turned red once she glanced to the side and realized what she just had done in front of the only authority who ever shown kindness to her despite a small part of her mind told her that she did nothing to stop Haku at all.

"You and I will have a talk after this, Haku…" Shinki stressed her words, and then turned to address Taylor "It's your choice, though if you think you want to postpone our magic lesson for a while, or if you do not want to…"

"No need for that Ma'am." Taylor quickly cut Shinki off, determination shone in her eyes "Your teaching helped a lot with my works, I think I can manage…" she trailed off and looked at the fox-woman "What do you want me to prove to stay here in the coming event?"

Although one part of Taylor's mind wanted to get away from the castle and explore the world, another part stopped her thought by reasoning that she couldn't expect to go out and hope for the best given the demographics of Makai that's full of beings with various special powers like this. It's pretty much a pipe dream to hope that she would come across another teacher who's willing to teach her magic without ulterior motive as well.

Haku's smile seems to grow wider as she waved her hand over to Taylor and cast her magic which instantly heals her as the maid felt the sourness and bruises from earlier bout disappeared.

"We have two weeks until the first envoy arrived, give or take a few days." Haku briefed as she walked over to stand in front of Taylor "I'm not delusional enough to say you have to be able to fend off a would-be assassin to pass my assessment, the guards will be the most pointless job in this castle if we're having maids doing their works."

'Then what the hell are you expecting me to do!' Taylor's internal scream almost become a verbal one had she not reminded herself where she was standing, but it was a close call as Haku seems to enjoy trying her patience at every turn.

"I'll teach you to notice any suspicious individuals and how to tell the guard, or myself." Haku explained in plain voice "Not everyone needs magic tricks or superpower to infiltrate. You must be vigilant to spot them and be discrete and level-headed enough to tell us without tipping them off. If you can pass my test before the first envoy set his or her foot on this castle, then I'll let you stay."

It sounded simple enough in Taylor's thought, so her next response was natural "So, when do we start?"

Haku glanced at their mutual boss briefly as if asking for her opinion, Shinki sighed with one hand on her head and said; "Go ahead, but there will be reckoning if you went too far."

Nodding at Shinki, Haku turned her attention toward Taylor. "Tomorrow, there's no time schedule, I'll train you whenever I see fit."

She then turned to address her mistress "Now, Milady, I'll be waiting outside, I believe you have something to say to your new maid, yes?"

Shinki waved her hand which the fox-woman took as a signal to leave without any word. Once the door was closed, Shinki turned to addressed her maids with an exasperated expression on her face, though she mostly focused on Taylor "Sorry for that display. Hakuryu, or Haku as she prefers to be called, takes her duties seriously, zealously sometimes in fact."

It seems authority apologizing was the thing that needed to cool Taylor down. Her anger deflated as she asked, "Is there anything you can tell me about her?"

'Consider that she has put herself under her tutelage while not thinking straight, better know what's coming so I can prepare.' was what she thought at the time.

"She was more vicious and obsessive with strength a long time ago." Shinki said, ignoring the stiffened Yumeko to her side "…she mellowed out a lot right now. But you can see that it's not completely gone even if she no longer harms others for the sake of proving her superiority anymore."

"Essentially she was once the same as those Three Bitches who murdered me and now has a change of heart?"

That was the first thing that came to Taylor's mind and she didn't afraid to vocalize it out. It was what got her here in the first place, after all.

"That is something you have to ask Haku herself." Shinki replied with a sad expression "Let just say that it was her experiences of the worlds that made her into what she is today and that those... schoolgirl bullies…" her speech turned cold at the mention of Taylor's murderers, "…haven't seen anything outside of the little world called high school yet."

Taylor felt uncomfortable and decided that it was time to leave and excused herself after Shinki assured her that their magical lesson will continue as usual and that even Haku will not dare to intrude upon it. Leaving Yumeko behind, she made her way back to her quarter, barely acknowledging the white fox-woman making her way back into Shinki's office.

Taylor didn't have to wait long before Yumeko showed up. It has become a sort of routine by now that they will take a turn cooking each meal and today it was Yumeko's. However, instead of making a beeline to their modest kitchen, the blonde gestured her hand that she wanted to chat first. And so the two of them were seated across the table.

"Haku… she can be a handful at time…" Yumeko begins with a mutter before she narrowed her eyes at Taylor "And you fell for her provocation making things worse for yourself."

She reignited the smoldering anger in Taylor's mind, but before she could retort, the blonde maid defused it "I was in the same shoe as you many years ago too, unless you have the patience of a saint, she'd find a way to successfully rile you up even if you two just met. It's the nature of her species after all."

"Is this the way she teaches things?" Taylor questioned.

"You forget our Milady's lesson in magic back there," Yumeko explained "To have a calm and clear mind is not just a requirement for doing magic, but in doing everything. You fly into a rage and attacked her despite clearly outmatched is due to your self-control slipped up. That will get you killed if there's really an assassin or infiltrator coming to this year's End of Winter Gathering."

"…"

"You can worry about fighting back later on," Yumeko continued while holding hands out and materialized a short sword in her hands "I didn't learn how to fight until I mastered all that necessary to serve my mother and mistress. Haku said it herself that there's no way you can really fight professional assassins or infiltrators with just two weeks of training. The time will come where you can stand on your own and no longer need to run, but that time is not now."

Yumeko then stood up and turned to the kitchen, but then she turned around and give Taylor tips about what to come "Haku will use illusions and disguises to confuse you. She may either be there herself or use her familiars. I believe you saw it already, right?" seeing Taylor nodded, she left her parting word before going to cook their meal "Good, just like Haku said to you earlier, remain vigilant."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

True to her words, Haku didn't show up when the night rolled around and Taylor woke up to goes to the tower to study magic with Shinki, according to her Mage Sight at the very least. And the study went through without much incidents with Shinki and her discussing improvement on her magical study.

And it was indeed much harder due to the fact that Taylor could barely advance her control from when cleaning up the cookware earlier that day. And the idea of pumping more Mana/The Force/Magic into her spell only elicited a frown from her teacher.

"Magical energy will not always be easily drawn upon, Taylor." Shinki chided Taylor as the latter tried to draw more ambient magic to fuel her spell while practicing "Although it's practically infinite, like the number of multiverses, your body can only handle so much at a time, and capping that capacity on some paltry tricks isn't the best use of it, don't you think so?"

It wasn't like Taylor could disagree with her when the reasoning made so much sense that even a complete newbie wouldn't dare argue. However, it also ends up reminding Taylor of questions she had during the day regarding Shinki, and it began to bugs her from that moment onward until the end of today's lesson.

"I think this's for today, Taylor." Shinki voice signaled the end of her practice. A dozen of thumb-size fireballs she conjured performed a spin and fly-by around them one last time before vanishing. Taylor sighed and wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"Are you all right, Taylor?"

She couldn't hide anything from her teacher/second mother at all. But it wasn't like she could hide anything from anyone in the first place. Discounting her dad who was too deep in perpetual depression to care of course.

Taylor stood up, she hesitated for a moment before she joined Shinki who was sitting on the parapet with her back facing the void below with no fear of falling. Trusting that her mistress wouldn't let her fall down.

Normally the act of servant sitting side by side with her mistress would be disrespectful and Taylor protested as such once, with a predictable result.

"I… just want to ask you something, Ma'am."

Silver eyes bore into Taylor in question "I suppose it was what troubled you during tonight's lesson isn't it?" taking silence as a confirmation, she then urged the brunette with a sincere smile "Ask away."

Silence reigned between the mistress and servant, but only for a moment before Taylor took the offer "What's god's duty? I mean, you can easily solve all the problems that people in your land suffer, preventing them from conflict, but why not? Why let them talk it out here in this gathering?"

Taylor had to give Shinki credit, from most fantasy fictions she read, godlike beings usually angry by this kind of questions from a mere mortal like her. Shinki, contrary to those fictions, only gave her a knowing smile as if this wasn't the first time she has been asked this question before.

"Hmm… let's see…" The Goddess of Makai hummed thoughtfully before clapping her hands "Let's say you have a child. That child started running in the park and tripped, fell over which leave him a bruise. Will you forbid him from going to the park from then on?"

Taylor shook her head as answers were obvious to her "No Ma'am."

"And why is that? Isn't the park dangerous to him? If so, what would you do?"

"I'll tell him to be careful and watch his step next time." The next questions also didn't take long for her to reply either. After all, it was what her mom told her when she was little "He would have to grow up and go out eventually, better let him learn the lesson than shelter him and be unprepared."

Shinki nodded in approval "Good answer." she then glanced upward to the darkened sky "It's the same reason why I will do nothing to solve the problems for the denizen of my world, Taylor. And for a being with power like me, the consequence will be much greater than unleashing one spoiled child into the harsh reality of the world."

Taylor looked at Shinki in silence, her eyes widened at the notion that she never thought of before.

But Shinki wasn't finished and continuing to explains "If I keep using my power as a 'Divine Intervention' every time some land faces famine or draught, they'll depend on me and never learn of the rain cycle, irrigation, and other methods to find and store water for use during the dry season. Same as other problems, they'll never grow up, they will never learn."

"But what about villains that cause harm to innocents? The evil country trying to conquer the defenseless who cannot save themselves?"

Shinki's smile turned bitter which made Taylor fear that she just threaded upon a touchy subject by accident.

But the shouting or cold lecture never come. Instead, Shinki answered her with melancholy in her voice "Again, it's the consequences that will come afterward. If I used my powers to rid my world of villainy and evil, then what's the lesson of the day that people will think afterward?"

This time, she didn't wait for Taylor who was struggling to find answer and replies "They will learn that what they did is something I do not approve of and doing it will incur my wrath. Even if I explained reasons to them, it'll be my reasons, not theirs. And thus, in the end, they will only stop out of fear of retribution from me, not because they understand that the society did not approve of such practice or civilization cannot function if this keeps going. It's up to the people in society to take responsibility and create the law and order of their own."

"But shouldn't people in power take responsibility and aid those without?" Taylor finally found her voice and argued, but her voice was subdued for someone who grew up in a land with superheroes combating supervillains and monsters on regular basis facing with such an affront to what she experienced for her entire life.

However, her mistress seems to have another idea.

"Again, do not compare my power with those paltry tricks of your so-called Parahumans, my child." Shinki's voice turned serious as she pointed her finger to the sky, causing Taylor's eyes to followed it "When your power reached the level that can create a new realm, new life, or destroying one on a whim, it becomes much harder to convince those who aware of it to not depend on you to save them from every problem without trying to solve it themselves. Tell me, my child, what kind of society that will become?"

"…They'll become complacent and only wait for aids?"

Shinki placed her hand on Taylor's and whispered "Nothing in the universe is perfect, everything has their own good and bad. Do you know how many civilizations I ruined because I helped them? I already lost count before I finally settled for just being a useless 'Goddess' who will only intervene to avert extinction-level crisis and become a mediator between civilizations to let them find answers of their own like this."

Taylor could practically feel the guilt and remorse of Shinki's failures in both her words and her sad smile. If there were any remaining doubts in her mind that the woman who was sitting next to her was just as human as everyone despite godlike power then it all but disappeared.

Taking a deep breath, Shinki composed herself and let out an awkward chuckle "Well, enough about me being a failure of a Goddess. How about you?"

Taylor was caught off-guarded by the sudden shift of topic and attention to herself and almost sputter "What is it, Ma'am?"

"I'm worried if you're letting your hatred for Haku cloud your judgment."

At Shinki's words, Taylor has to suppress her anger which threatened to come out again, but her reply still taking on a sarcastic tone "You said it yourself that she was once a bully and that her habit still persists. What else I have to think about?"

Shinki let out a sigh "From a certain point of view, Haku is actually helping you in her own way."

"If that's her helping me, I dreaded to think what's not helping will looks like." Taylor quipped with even voice, which was quite an achievement, considered the past meeting with Haku "And why is it matters?"

Shinki stood up from the parapet and began pacing in front of her maid with her hand on her chin as if in thought. Once she made the third pass in front of Taylor, she stopped and turned to speak "Remember this afternoon when Haku demonstrated illusion magic by using it on you?"

Taylor nodded and let Shinki asked "If you cannot spot the assassin who used illusion magic or disguise to distracted you while you're carrying a meal to serve our guests and slipped a poison on your dish or drink. Whom will they accuse with whatever going to happen next?"

Taylor's face paled almost instantly as her mind realized what Shinki was implying.

"I called Haku to speak with me after you left." Shinki continued without waiting for her answer "While she didn't admit it directly, she was concerned about you personally due to that exact reason you know?"

Gulping, Taylor finally found her voice once more, "I still find it hard to believe, Ma'am."

Though Taylor's wariness against the white fox chief guard still present, her tone was softened as she looked at what transpired from a new perspective that her mistress asked.

If only she'd be more tactful, Taylor might like her.

Shinki gave her an encouraging smile "All I can ask is that you try your hardest to learn from this 'test' Taylor. Even if you cannot pass it and has to be sent away for the time, I can assure you that Haku's relative is anything but…" she paused, searching for appropriate description before settled on "…like Haku. Yumeko can attest to that."

While it was a relief that even the unflappable Yumeko once faced the same thing as she was about to face from tomorrow onward, Taylor couldn't help but ask "Why are you giving Haku this much authority in the first place?"

Shinki's smile never fade as she replied "Because she properly doing her job and still looking after the wellbeing of everyone here." before Taylor could protest, Shinki quickly cut her off "Even if you resented her for being nasty to you, please keep in mind that she's trying to protect you from a far worse fate with a limited options she has on hands..."

"But you can easily clear me of the accusation regardless of evidence!"

Shinki frowned for the first time in that night and countered smoothly "And abuse my authority like how your old school's principal abused hers to shielded your bullies from any punishment?"

That gave Taylor a pause, as she averted her mistress's eyes and mumbled with shame-filled voice, her rage all but forgotten "I'm sorry, Ma'am…"

Even though some of Taylor's dark thought wished for such favoritism, another good and dominant part clamped it down with prejudice, she will never stoop down to their level!

Her mistress made her way to the door before turned to addressed Taylor the final time "It's late and you should be tired by now. Let's head back and rest while you still can and prepare for tomorrow." and then she was gone, leaving Taylor alone on the tower.

It didn't take long for Taylor to quickly rushed back to her quarter and used magic-assist jump to land on her bunk, fast asleep without bother to change nor greet Yumeko who was waiting at the table.

Yumeko decided to let it slide this time, knowing how stressful it will be for Taylor dealing with Haku first-handed..

* * *

Sound of chirping birds woke Taylor from her late-night slumber. She stretched her arms up and let out a yawn before lifting herself out of bed. But as she fumbling to find her glasses, it was offered to her by a pair of hand which she took it while mumbled a small "thank you" to someone who was standing next to her bed…

…But her bed was a top bunk…

Taylor's eyes widen as she jolted awake and looked at the person hovering next to her bunk. She rubbed her eyes and put her glasses on, and the image didn't change, the woman was still there.

And logically, the first thing that came out from the surprised maid's mouth was "Why are you… no, how can you get in here?"

Indeed, standing in mid-air next to her bunk was none other than the nasty guard chief herself who didn't so much as quirking her eyebrow at the questions and proceeded to say that she sucks in a roundabout way in that same annoying apathetic voice "If I am an assassin, then you're already dead, Taylor."

That provoked a response from the maid in form of snarking "It's not like we don't need to sleep!" she glared at the fluffy tails before adding "…or nocturnal."

If Haku felt insulted, she didn't show it outwardly at all as she continued emotionlessly "That's what locks, barriers, and magical perimeter defenses are for." then she quickly preempted Taylor's response by saying "It's an improvement that you should consider in the future. It'll take time to unravel its complexity and adopt for yourself. Just remember that this room is a safe haven thanks to your senior."

At that mention of her senior, Taylor's immediately alarmed and about to demand her whereabouts until the maid in red showed up out of their tiny kitchen carrying a tray of simple breakfast which was slightly more than they usually had.

Taylor realized the implication before Yumeko even spelled it out.

"Haku will be joining us for breakfast."

That spiked Taylor's wariness and it showed, from when she went to the bathroom to wash and change, or throughout the breakfast by signs of her covertly using Mage Sight and inspecting everything all the time. The other two didn't comment on it nor did they strike any conversation during the meal only added to the tension.

As the meal finished and Taylor was about to take the dishes to wash, Haku decided to break the silence first "Your observation should be more subtle. Because an alerted spy may find it necessary to eliminate you first if he felt threatened."

Taylor's face heated up, but her angry throwback was preempted by the fox who suddenly complimented her "But keeping your vigilant and there's little you have to fear of spies finding you the best target to impersonate or trick."

She then stood up and bowed slightly at Yumeko who was glaring at the fox "Thanks for the meal. I'll be going then." However, when her hand reached the doorknob, she turned around and faced Taylor again with a serious look of a professional "I'll be watching you throughout the weeks. Taylor. That's all of my lessons… and a test. Can you spot lies from the truth? Can you know time and place to act? We shall see…"

Once she was gone, Taylor let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Yumeko came over and squeezed her shoulder encouragingly.

"She's being serious, nothing to be afraid of."

"She's still a bitch though…"

Taylor vulgar remark was met with disapproval from her senior whose response was obvious "Watch your language." but her tone and look softened when she withdrew her hand and let Taylor continued with dishwashing "Think of it as learning through real experience instead of lessons in a classroom like you did with Milady. As I told you last night. Be vigilant."

Taylor could only mutter with a strained smile "I'll try."

And as soon as the dish was done, the two of them grabbed their tools before going their separate ways to attend to their respective duties of the day. Taylor made her way to the main library of the castle while Yumeko handles the rest.

As she pushed the double door open wide, she was greeted by sight of countless four stories bookshelves reached to the ceiling with various reading materials imaginable kept on it in various state of neatness. And her work today is to help cleaning around this place.

No matter how much she wanted to sit down and read them, there's a job to be done.

After greeting the librarian who looked like a kind, hunchback old man with pointy ears and horns dressed in a dark baggy robe like wizards in fantasy fiction, Taylor quickly went to work. Carefully dusting off precious tomes and books by either hand or magic. But it was mostly by hand as some of the artifacts here looked so fragile that she was afraid that a momentary slip-up would wreck them. Not to mention that there was a certain fox waiting to screw her up somewhere close by.

She had enough false accusations thrown her way to last an entire lifetime, thank you very much.

'Speak of the devil' Taylor was alarmed as her Mage Sight detected an anomaly slowly creeping in from the corner of her eyes. With a focus on her eyes, she quietly continued her works despite the illusion overlapping everything in her sight. There was no use trying to search and confront the caster when she didn't have any skills to fight them with.

Carefully, she thoroughly performed her cleaning duty, albeit at a slower pace as she had to divert attention to attempts at sabotages from both invisible assailants trying to trick her into messing up her cleaning or damage something, and the usual childish fairies that populated the place.

Granted, if they really wanted to sabotage her that badly they'd have ruined the tomes and undone all the works after she finished for the day and left. But given how priceless these artifacts are, and how Haku still under service of Shinki, along with the objective of this test was to notice spies and assassins that infiltrated the castle, it was unlikely that Haku would do that.

It didn't comfort her much though, as no matter how much assurances from Yumeko and Shinki told her, Haku still reminded Taylor too much of her painful past.

When she finished cleaning out the dust on the last pile of paper and arranged all of them back neatly on the shelf it was already noon, way too slow compared to when cleaning another section of the library the other day. When that was done, Taylor made her way to the librarian at the front of the library to report her work for today and apologize for taking too long.

The demon librarian looked up from his tome when he heard Taylor's footsteps and greeted her with a smile "Is everything in order?"

Taylor nodded and replied while suppressing an annoyed huff that the old man only sits here and didn't do anything at all "Yes, I'm a bit late, but I just finished for today."

"Anything else to report?"

At that question, Taylor hesitated, should she tell the man that there was someone unsavory person hiding here and tried to pull a prank on her? Or should she pretend nothing happen and only tell Shinki and Yumeko about it? After all, he's sitting here being useless while she has done all the work for him… or was he?

The old man squinted his eyes at her when she didn't reply and not leaving, making her struggled with how to respond.

"There's… someone is casting illusion magic around this library, sir. I'm not sure who or why they did it, but please be careful."

In the end, the good nature part of her won out. After all, Haku said to learn from real experiences, hasn't she? What kind of a woman she will be if she left other clueless and vulnerable to the one wish people here harm?

The old librarian's eyes opened up slightly more but didn't comment anything except waving his hand in a universal sign of dismissing her, to which she obliged without further conversation.

Lunch became a stressful affair for Taylor who was expecting an attack or prank at any moment despite her usual eating spot was her quarter shared with Yumeko. But the problem was Yumeko wasn't present today, probably due to some stupid fairies again, causing Taylor to eat her lunch alone, and it made her nervous as the defensive measures Yumeko placed on the quarter could only help so much.

In the end, there was nothing out of the ordinary that she could detect and she left for work in the left wing of the castle in the afternoon without waiting for Yumeko to show up knowing from past experiences that sometime she couldn't make it.

Again, she couldn't shake off the feeling of certain someone watching her every move, waiting to exploit an opening to cause some harms and thus keeping her Mage Sight opened. By the end of the day, she could barely bring her tired and exhausted body back to her room. The only comfort is that apart from illusion spell trying to affect her multiple times during the day, nothing happens so far…

…or was it? Taylor's tired mind once again started to get uncomfortable when she realized that since that one incident in the library, she couldn't locate or catch sight of the perpetrator at all despite meeting with her in the morning and know exactly who's behind it.

Also, hiding behind illusion spell wasn't an excuse for her in Taylor's mind, not when she learned the exact ability to counter that a month prior and even noticed it yesterday!

But the moment she walked into her quarter and saw the old demon librarian sitting at the table with Yumeko cooking in the kitchen, she realized immediately that something was wrong.

Still, her training etiquette kicked in and she greeted the old man politely "Is there anything we can help you with?"

The old man looked at her with calculating, piercing eyes, before a smirk formed on his lip and spoke to the tired but alerted Taylor in his usual old man voice "So you don't even bother to learn about him at all…"

Then the old man used his hand to slowly peeled his skin out, paying no heed to Taylor's horrified look. But that horror soon turned into surprise when she saw what lies beneath that she didn't notice the door closing on its own behind her.

Another face, a face she comes to loathe over the span of two days was smirking back at her, with two fox ears popping up over snowy white hair removed any doubts she had.

"My Mage Sight didn't see anything!"

"Of course, it didn't, Mage Sight detect only magical usage, it didn't let you see through clothing unless you modify it for that."

The first word that left Taylor's mouth elicited a snort from Haku who took off her baggy robe to let her fluffy tails which disguised as a hunched back free of its confinement in the meantime. Once they were freed, she quickly went on to criticize Taylor's performance on her first day of the test.

"You're expecting too much from someone who's unfamiliar with this place!"

Naturally, Taylor did not take it well and predictably shouted back, her anger barely restrained by the memory of how the last time she tried shutting this fox up the violent way went.

"Of course, the world isn't fair! It never was, and never be! Do you think spies will act honorable and make it easy for you to notice just because you're new here?"

And just like the last time, her angry shout did not faze Haku at all as she proceeds to dismantled Taylor's argument with cold-calculating voice.

"What I did today is something that you should notice had you ever socialize with people in the castle outside of Milady and Yumeko, I deliberately behaved differently than the librarian whom I asked to move elsewhere for the day that you wouldn't miss it, but you did."

Taylor could only open and closed her mouth for a moment searching for argument before she settled on telling Haku that she asked for the impossible.

Haku shook her head "I'm not asking you to become a social butterfly, but you should at least acquaint with key personnel in the castle more than just knowing their name and their professions. You have months of a head start before I returned here. Milady did not prevent you from making friends and you have free time after your works."

She paused and looked at Taylor who was looking down at the floor unable to argue before continued with a slightly softer tone despite her almost emotionless face "I'm vaguely aware of your traumatic past making you paranoid of others. But it's detrimental to the security of everyone if you let it dictate your interaction like this."

Eyes narrowed, Haku glanced at the approaching Yumeko before focusing back on Taylor again "I hope for your sake that you seek to realize why it was wrong to distance yourself from others and rectify it before it's too late, Taylor Hebert."

With that parting word delivered in the same emotionless tone, Haku nodded at Yumeko and made for the exit to leave without waiting for complaints from her quarry.

Once the door shut quietly, Yumeko let out a sigh and put down the dinner tray on the table before turning to Taylor who stood still since the fox left. "Are you all right?"

That snapped Taylor out of her inner thought and quickly rounded on her senior, her pent-up frustration simmering just beneath her calm surface "Is this a setup?"

"What?"

"Setup so that I fail this test no matter what I did!" Taylor snapped at Yumeko despite the latter had no hand in her current predicament at all out of anger before realizing what she just did and fell silent.

The blonde maid didn't say anything for minutes despite it was her right to reprimand this uncouth behavior of her junior. Both did not dare to touch the food or drink on the table as they tried to find a way to address the situation. But finally, Yumeko broke the silence first.

"While she was aware of you since you set foot into Makai, she didn't influence any decisions you made during the Winter."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

Taylor responded immediately, cutting Yumeko off, but her voice now has a hint of uncertainty.

If Yumeko noticed it, she didn't act on it and continued her explanation "Because there was no point? Or because what Haku did earlier was an almost exact thing happened to me in the past." she closed her eyes for a moment, likely reminiscing "…and it's also the first time I failed Milady."

Hearing the shame in her senior's voice was all it took to convince Taylor to accept it as truth however hard it is to swallow.

"If it's any consolation, your outburst right now couldn't compare to my temper tantrum back then, thanks to my inherent abilities. And I have even fewer excuses for how I behave around others too."

Taylor wasn't sure if Yumeko was trying to lighten the mood or not, but it was indeed a consolation to hear the confirmation from her mouth about what Shinki told her the other night.

However, that was where the depressing thought hit her and it reflected in her next whisper.

"So, I'm expected to fail after all… just like you did, right?"

Yumeko didn't say anything except gestured at the empty seat that Haku sat earlier. The depressed Taylor took a seat and begin eating without complaint alongside her senior.

Their meal stayed silent for a few minutes before Yumeko finally gathered her thoughts together enough to try talking to Taylor again "My first failure was a… humbling experience, Taylor."

Taylor slowly put down her spoon and asked bitterly, no doubt feeling betrayed that she didn't help her earlier "Are you trying to make me feel better?"

Yumeko shook her head slightly "No, I'm just stating the fact."

"What fact?"

"The fact that no one is perfect and it takes time to excel in any given task. Without putting effort or preparation, this is always the result."

Taylor let out a mirthless chuckle while staring at her vegetable soup "Then what's the point of this test?" she then quickly adds and looked at Yumeko who was shooting her a questioning glance "…I know I fell for Haku's provocation and accepted it myself, but still, why?"

What she didn't say was 'Why not simply fire her the moment she acted out of line, just like how Principal Blackwell simply dismissed all her complaints in her past live right until her death?'

Yumeko didn't know what Taylor was thinking when she answered "I think she wants to see how you perform. Sometimes it's the journey that matters more than the result because the most valuable lessons were learned during it, not after." she paused to gather her thought and continued "Besides, you will not regret anything even when you fail, as your heart knows that you've tried your best."

Taylor blinked at the sudden insight from her senior who never said something like this before "That's… rather …"

"It's just something Haku's relative love to say." Yumeko quickly corrected her and then looked at the half-filled dishes before them "Let's finish our dinner, you still have a lesson with Milady tonight, remember? Or would you prefer to rest? I can tell Milady that you're too tired and she won't be upset about it."

In the end, Taylor silently finished her meal and prepare for the magical lesson with Shinki that night as if everything was normal. And despite one part of her mind keeps telling her to just quit since this test was rigged from the start, another part of her mind also told her that Yumeko did fail in the past and still around because she gave it her all.

Taylor still detests the nine-tails fox nonetheless…

* * *

"…I'd recommend sending her away until the Gathering is concluded. Milady."

After the end of the second week, Taylor and Yumeko were summoned to Shinki's office once again, and predictably, Haku was there to give reports on her progress…

Which was not satisfying, to say the least…

'How the hell one can please this bloody fox!?' Part of Taylor's mind angrily whispered as Yumeko squeezed her shoulder lightly, perhaps to tell her to keep cool and not lash out. Even Shinki, sitting behind her desk, looking at her with encouraging smile instead of disappointment, as if silently saying "You've done your best, do better next time" to her, or so she thought.

"I… understand…"

Words pushed through her mouth, like all people, Taylor hates failing her task especially when things look like the other party rigged or cheated her to fail. Even if it was to make her reflecting her problems, she should've done it in a gentler manner!

It was a miracle that she didn't quit after she couldn't spot Haku dressing as important castle's residents for the fifth time in a row, which the nine tails fox casually reminded her every dinner by dismantling her disguises in front of her without fail. Her performance will not improve at all to the end of the second week because she didn't know those people well enough to spot the differences, and socializing with them right now will only add to her paranoia whether the one she converses with was the real one or not.

'If only she'd try to disguise as Yumeko or Shinki...' was one of her thought, but when thinking about it carefully she find it improbable because if the enemy can subvert those two then they'd be more than powerful enough to make everyone on this world submit to them, no need for subtlety at all.

But on the other hand, Taylor could spot and identify Haku's familiar disguising as people most of the time after a week of stumbling, which was just a consolation prize at best, all things considered.

Also, two weeks was enough time for her to cool her head and thought things over, thus while upset, she didn't explode at Haku who was standing at her usual spot next to Shinki yet.

Shinki broke Taylor out of her brooding a moment after with a question "If what Haku said about your performance is true, then I'll have no choice but to do as she suggested. Taylor, are you all right with this?"

Taylor wanted to complain, wanted to tell Shinki how unfair it was, but Haku's and Shinki's words of wisdom rang in her mind, it wasn't like they had a choice if they wanted to be respected and acknowledged as impartial host during the negotiations that will soon take place here lest conflict broke out. And Taylor did not want to be held accountable for responsible for starting a war just because she asked for a favor to stay despite how unprepared she was.

"I… do not like this… Ma'am, it feels unfair…"

Taylor paused to take a deep breath a moment before continuing while looking at her mistress "But I guess that's the point, isn't it?"

In the end, what more she could say?

Shinki's silver eyes glanced at Haku which also drew Taylor's eyes toward the fox she detested, perhaps it was an illusion but Taylor swore that Haku seems to briefly gave her an approving look for a second before it was replaced with the near-emotionless mask she always wearing.

A cough from Shinki drew Taylor's attention back "I only confine you to the castle to give you time to adjust to your new life, you'll eventually have to go out there and make more friends, not just Yumeko or myself. Try to think of this as an opportunity to do so, all right?"

When Shinki worded it like that, Taylor couldn't help but agreed with her, why the hell she still let her distrust born in her old life influencing her to this day anyway?

"Yes, Ma'am, when do I leave?"

The one who answered was Haku in her trademark apathetic voice "I'll be bringing you to my relative's residence by tomorrow afternoon. Please pack your belonging and ready to leave by then."

"I'll escort you there." Yumeko quickly chimed in "It's been a while since I visited him."

While the red-clad maid's face was schooled into a stoic mask, her blue eyes that briefly looked at Taylor was enough to make her grateful as it spoke well of concern to her wellbeing and what she said was just an excuse to help her.

Taylor could only hope that things will turn out all right and that she will be back by the end of the Gathering.


	8. Interlude 01

**Interlude 01**

Two weeks earlier

As the two maids have left Shinki's office with the apprehension of the challenge that will begin tomorrow, the red-clad goddess turned to addressed her stoic fox lady chief security the moment the latter walked back into the room. "You shouldn't goad her into such hopeless challenge!"

The fox didn't faze despite facing the displeasure from her boss in full before calmly replied "What will you choose Your Excellency? Your reputation as the mediator that all the civilizations of this world respected as the advocate of peace and benevolent goddess? Or your newly adopted retainer's happiness in the little world called Pandemonium Castle?"

Shinki's eyes narrowed "Do not call me 'Your Excellency', I've told you many times."

"Then you shouldn't let your favoritism ruins everything you strives for and needed me to remind you that there're a lot more people than a single girl depending on you."

The goddess took a deep breath to calm her frustration of dealing with her troublesome but extremely competent guard chief, knowing that she meant well but her method still questionable, a reflection of her violent past that probably never fade away.

After gathering her thought, the goddess opened with a flat statement "You're repeating what you've done to Yumeko all those years before."

"I am." the fox replied and quickly held up her hands to stop her liege from interrupting her explanation which continued on immediately as if fearing her liege's wrath "But as I said before, she's a potential security leak for the upcoming event. I'd be happy to train her normally if we have enough time, but since we're not I have to make this decision."

"Telling her that she has to relocate temporarily should suffice in that case."

Haku's expression didn't change as she calmly countered her mistress "But you still went along with what I did, because you are aware as well as I am, are you not, about how she's like?"

"…"

It was Shinki's turn to be speechless as Haku pressed her advantage with her usual monotone voice "Sometimes a strong medicine with a quick result is needed even if it has some undesirable side effect, Milady. I'm not going to let her goes down the same path I once threaded."

The goddess sighed which made the fox paused her explanation, her eyes slightly widen in the realization that she accidentally let slip things she did not want her mistress to hear.

The small, melancholic smile on Shinki's lip showed that she knows it too.

"Is it still haunting you?"

The fox didn't answer, but Shinki nodded as if knowing it already and then stood up. She turned around and peered outside of the window toward the sky filled with glowing purple miasma before speaking up "But still, I have my doubts. Things that may not go as you predicted. And that's why I'm worried."

Haku tilted her head slightly, her expression returned to neutral "You should have more faith in logical thinking, Milady, failing that, precognitions and divinations."

Shinki let out a mirthless chuckle "Precognition? Divination? When primordial gods whose control over fate was supposed to be 'absolute' weren't around in the multiverse anymore as they did not see their deaths coming…" she stressed the word 'absolute' with so thick sarcasm that even an idiot would notice "How can I bring myself to blindly trust those after learning of that?"

Since Haku wasn't born when that happens, she couldn't comment upon it. However, she still had a piece of mind to give "Even so, if we do nothing then it is inevitable that the child will succumb to the hell of her own making one day."

"I'd say it's this kind of thing that led to the death of primordial gods in the first place." Shinki countered softly, but her voice made it clear that she also didn't reject the fox's opinion either "…But you are also right that doing nothing will guarantee the result we wish to prevent…"

The two spoke nothing as they watched the sky of Makai, pondered on the decision that they already made, or will make.

After a long period of silence, Shinki finally turned around asked; "Are you certain that there's nothing you can do aside from setting yourself up as her nemesis?"

"A challenge is an effective motivation for people to strive to better themselves, as long as they do not succumb to despair or distraction along the way." Haku replied without a doubt in her mind, and then she adds "And I do not do this to get praise from anyone, Milady. If this means that the girl turns into an effective member of this community, then her grudge against me is nothing I cannot bear."

"You better hope that it doesn't escalate into you and her trying to trip each other up," Shinki warned sternly, though her voice seems resigned.

Haku bowed and spoke up with seriousness in her voice "I promise that any resentment she harbored will be directed only to myself. After all these years, has Yumeko not proof of that?"

Shinki could only shake her head at such audacious claim "No two person are the same."

"Yet in my centuries of experience, people always repeating the pattern regardless of era, origin, or even experiences and history." Haku countered calmly, "Do what you experienced across multiverses before settled down here that much different from mine, Milady?"

"No, they're not." Shinki swiftly replied without hesitation as that was what she experienced, to say otherwise would be lying to Haku and herself.

"Then you have nothing to fear." Haku summarized with a dry matter-of-fact tone "I intend only to give the girl motivation to seeks out her potentials, and along the way, unmask and see her true self beneath so that her issues could be rectified."

That caused Shinki's thought to paused as something she hadn't consider before clicked together, from the way Haku provoked Taylor into this pointless challenge instead of simply sending her away. It fits. She then asked, "Said potentials don't happen to be your sworn brother isn't it?"

Haku's expressionless mask was still in place, however, her cheeks gained a shade of pink as she replied, practically admitting to what she was trying to do "I'm only trying to preserve his valuable knowledge. It would be a waste to let it fade away with time."

"He still has a daughter." Shinki snapped at the fox's plan to meddle with even more people under her care "It's his decision to make whether to pass his skill and knowledge on. I can't believe you're going to do that to your sworn brother!"

Haku, to her credit, at least has enough decency to averted her mistress's eyes as she started correcting her statement, her voice tinged with guilt indicating a crack in her mask "I didn't mean to impose Taylor upon him, Milady. Whether or not he found her worthy is his to decide. I just send him a potential candidate." She then added, "After all, he's the type that won't tell anyone about what he knows, and it makes things hard for him to find an heir even in a time like this."

Shinki found her anger fade away as she understood what Haku was thinking. Taking a deep breath, she then decided to end this meeting by a parting instruction "Since words cannot be taken back, I'll have you take responsibility for your actions. Make sure that Taylor or anyone will not come to harm from your schemes…"

"I will." the cold, emotionless mask returned to Haku's face in an instant as if the previous discussion never happens. "That's always my intention, Milady."

Shinki nodded and asks "Is there anything else?"

"My familiars saw strange movement at the border between the Libre and the Dominion. It's probably nothing. But I'll err on the caution for this year's gathering just in case. I'll take my leave now, Milady, have a good day."

'At least that justified her decision, no matter how flimsy it might be.' Shinki thought as the nine white fluffy tails disappeared behind the door, and then she sighed 'I guess even if there's time for her to teach Taylor properly, she'd still anger her anyway, given her personality and Taylor's past.'

Scratching her head, Shinki sat down at her desk and muttered "Haku, the one who needs more friends isn't just Taylor you know…"

What happened today also happened to Yumeko before, and it leaves the relationship between Haku and her daughter cold ever since. It took years before Yumeko could bring herself to at least grudgingly respects Haku, but the two are certainly not friends.

For a moment, Shinki wondered if this's a curse or a blessing? Yumeko and Taylor might become closer over a common nemesis, but at the sacrifice of another potential friendship? Was it really worth it?

Shaking her head, Shinki pulled out a parchment and began doing her paperwork, yet her mind still thinking on what to say to Taylor in their training that night that perhaps might help her in the coming days.

No matter what anyone might say about her, she will always look after her children, however flawed she may be.


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: This rapid update will goes on for a few more chapters to catch up with what I posted on Spacebattles.

I'm sure that people want to see actions, but unfortunately, magic did not come with an instruction manual like parahuman power. So...

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Going to the town at the base of the Pandemonium Castle was a new experience for Taylor who came from modern age society. Everything outside the crystal-like castle wall was almost like a picture of Renaissance-era described in history texts and fairy tales, from the architecture of the buildings to the people who lived there.

And then there's the method of transportation, namely with Yumeko picking her up, packed all her belonging into her personal space magic, and flown over the castle wall instead of using the front gate. While the experience was a little bit soured by certain apathetic nine-tails fox flying alongside them, it was still like a dream come true to Taylor who once lived in a universe where superheroes and supervillains with superpowers were real and once dreamt of being one in her childhood.

The best part was when Yumeko told her that she would be able to do it as well given enough practices and studies. She was delighted, but for now, she has to clamp down that excitement and focus on the present, making a promise to herself that she'd definitely learn how to fly one day.

Part of her mind was a bit resentful that Shinki couldn't come with them, however, Taylor clammed down that thought by the reason that the first envoy was expected to arrive at the castle today so it'd be improper for her to ditch that duty for Taylor's selfish desire. Yumeko has made that clear to her just this morning that there're tensions between some the kingdoms out there, and they were expected to meet here to try to resolve their issues peacefully.

'Should've to leave Haku there so she can come with us.' Taylor thought before dismissing it almost immediately after experienced the fox's attitude first-hand, Taylor knows in her mind that it's not going to end well at all.

"What are you thinking Taylor?"

Yumeko's enhanced voice broke her out of her inner monologue. Looking between her, the reddish sky, and then the town they were descending to below, Taylor smiled slightly and replied with the magic-enhanced voice like her senior's so that her words won't be swept away by the rushing wind "I'm just nervous, Yumeko. I haven't been out of the castle before, and…" her gaze turned to the sky which perpetually glowing in reddish color "…it's kind of unsettling, seeing the sky like that up close."

Yumeko's spared a brief glance upward before shrugging "Understandable, most immigrants from the other realms, especially human's, also find it unsettling. But those who were born here and grew up with them won't." She then motioned her free hand toward the strange trees with white leaves growing around what seems to be a small park or public space of some kind in the middle of one section of the town "…same as many species of plants and animals here."

Yumeko then pointed toward the mountain ranges in the horizon in an attempt to lighten the mood of her junior "There're many civilizations of various sapient people out there. Many with cultures unique to them from universes apart. Think of this as an opportunity to see what this world has to offer outside the confine of Pandemonium Castle and not dishearten by this temporary arrangement."

"Say the one who always stays in the castle."

Taylor couldn't help but verbally jabbed her senior lightly. However, that caused Yumeko to shook her head slightly and quickly corrected Taylor's assumption.

"I still occasionally venture outside. It just that with my ability, I can travel faster than flying."

Taylor looked confused for a moment before she realized that her senior was talking about her magic "There's teleportation magic?"

"Indeed." Yumeko replied before quickly adds "But you better master flying first before trying your hand at teleportation. One thing at a time, so to speak."

Taylor nodded in agreement before Yumeko pointed toward one section of the town below "We're almost there."

Their descend was interrupted when Taylor spotted a few people looking up from the clobber stone street below them "Wait, Yumeko, there're people watching us!"

The senior quirked her eyebrow at Taylor's sudden panic but have yet to slow their flight "What's wrong with it? People looking at mages and flight-capable individual passing over them all the time."

"We're wearing a skirt."

Understanding expression lit up on Yumeko's face, but again she didn't act to protect her modesty at all and continued on their path, even waving her free hand at a group of men in front of one bar they were flying over. As for Haku, she didn't seem to care at all except for sending a warning glance in the two maids' direction to not fall behind.

Yumeko then spoke up "Don't tell me you're going to let this stopping you from flying? And don't you think it's too late to complain right now?"

Taylor retorted back while pointing her free hand at the hem of her maid dress "Well, I'm not planning to fly while wearing a skirt, flashing my underwear for all to see. And sorry if people in the castle didn't bat an eye because it's you who picked me up."

That caused her senior to chuckled a little which irritated Taylor even more for not taking this seriously to the point that she briefly thinking if she has no shame at all until Yumeko explains "Anyone that can fly can also employ many ways to cover their modesty, and I'm using it on you since the beginning."

That piped Taylor's interest "What kind of method?"

Yumeko nodded her head toward the fox who was already down on the street below looking at them "Illusion magic is one option. But for me, I'm using wind magic to keep our dignity intact. You'll have to practice to find the one you like, but that's for the other time."

They touched a small road at that moment. Yumeko quickly released a grip on Taylor and let her walk with Haku narrowed her eyes at the duo before turning around and begins leading them to the destination.

Along the road, they passed by various townspeople who seem to recognize either Haku or Yumeko and greeted them, which they returned the gesture. What surprised Taylor was how casual Haku looked when she knelt down to speak with passing children, but then returned to the stoic, unfeeling mask the moment she caught sight of the town guards patrolling the area.

'Is she only nasty to those under Shinki's employ?'

Taylor didn't voice her thought out loud however, as the woman in question was within earshot, a very far-reaching one too, so gossiping was out as well.

They walked through the narrow street following Haku until she stopped in front of one resident. It wasn't hard to notice the house though, not only its walls were made of wood instead of bricks and mortar, it was also made in the Eastern style like those Taylor vaguely saw in the book describing the old Chinese civilization instead of European style housing that surrounded it.

Furthermore, the sign in front of the resident was written as 'Clinic' in Makai dialect which she could read thanks to Yumeko's teaching.

As Taylor was wondering why this clinic was so different from its neighbors, Haku waltzed up to the front door and knocked on it rapidly until it slid opened revealing an elderly man with wearing a grey Chinese style clothing standing there. He was thin but well-built, unlike Taylor's beanpole stature that still plaguing her new life.

'As if I'd know that self-image was used as a template to create a new body for me.' Taylor thought bitterly, her hand unconsciously rubbing around her belly 'At least working around the castle helped getting rid of my pot belly.'

The old man's eyebrows scrunched up as he saw who was in front of his house, his thin lip turned into a wide radiant smile as he greeted the nine-tails woman and her group warmly and energetically, contrasting his supposed age "It's good to see you again, my dear sister."

Haku responded by pulling the old man into a hug and return the greeting with a kind affectionate voice that surprised Taylor "I'm glad that you're still as lively as ever, brother."

That earned a heartful laugh from the old man, and then after the two parted away, he turned attention to the two maids. His squinted eyes looked through them before settled on the blonde first "Long time no see, Yumeko. And would you mind introduce me to your apprentice?"

That got Taylor to wonder if Yumeko or Haku talked about her to this elder before coming here, but from the earlier reaction, she concluded to herself that it was unlikely.

"This's Taylor, and she's a new maid in Milady's employ." Yumeko introduced her to the old man, which prompted Taylor to greet him by bowing "She'll be staying with your family for the time being due to the impending gathering event at the castle."

The old man beamed at the reply from Yumeko and then quickly ushered them "What are you all waiting for? Come in, come in, all of you! We can talk later."

He turned around and moved inside followed by everyone. Once inside, it was revealed that the room was filled with wooden shelves containing various jars and bottles of herbs and medicine with labels that Taylor couldn't recognize attached to them. A flat-large table situated to the side with a brown blanket covering it. And a counter at the back of the room.

The old man led them to the back of the room which was the living area behind the counter. But as he was about to go to the kitchen next-door to brew tea, Haku's hand grabbed his. The two stared at each other silently for a moment, and then Haku let the old man's hand go and walked into the kitchen herself leaving him with Yumeko and Taylor.

A chuckle escaped the elder as he gestured the two maids to the set of modest chairs and small table "Come on, let sit while Haku brings us tea. For now, you're my guest just like many that Haku kept sending here whenever they were disqualified for duty."

Taylor tensed at his statement, but before her negative and depreciative thought could surface, the elder preempted her first while he and Yumeko took their seats "My sister, Haku, seems to think this's a good place to hold a remedial lesson for some reason. But I digress. So far, they only showed up here once, stayed for a month, before returning to the Pandemonium castle and never have to come back here." he then turned toward Yumeko and smiled "Except this lady here who frequently visit since I opened this clinic."

Then he noticed that Taylor was standing and asked in the same energetic voice he used since they met which startled her "You too, take a seat and tell me your story."

Yumeko noticed Taylor's nervousness and quickly come to a rescue "You haven't introduced yourself yet!"

Her senior's words paused the energetic old man in his track. He let out a chuckle "Pardon this forgetful old man. Surrounded with people I know tends to make I forget." He then smiled at Taylor "The name is Yang, and welcome to my clinic."

Taylor nervously reached her hand out and paused for a moment when she noticed Yang didn't present her with his before her training kicked in and bowed to him without any prompts from Yumeko "My name is Taylor Hebert, a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Yang."

Yang laughed "Ah, polite one, aren't you? I think you'll get along with my daughter fine."

Taylor wasn't sure how to react, it was a long time ago since she had seen someone genuinely happy like this, Mr. Glady's fake enthusiasm didn't count.

Sound of boiling water reached their ears, and soon enough Haku returned with a tray of tea set for everyone which surprised Taylor even more, that someone like Haku would do a maid works like this for her so-called 'brother' but she shut her mouth as the tea set was placed on the table and all of them seated across each other.

Without waiting, Haku and Yang started sipping it, while Yumeko mumbled "Thank you" before treating herself a cup as well, leaving only Taylor who was overthinking on what's the fox's trick this time…

"It's rude to ignore the host's hospitality."

A whisper from Yumeko who seated next to Taylor made her picked the cup up and started sipping it as well. And to her surprise it was very good, but that perhaps was because of her low opinion on Haku whom, thanks to Shinki's and Haku's own indirect admission, reminded her too much of Sophia whom she couldn't imagine doing something so 'girly' like this.

A clank echoed as Haku put her cup down on the dish and caught everyone's attention as she turned to Yang "Brother, I must apologize for spoiling the mood, but…"

A wrinkled hand held up in front of the fox as the old man smiled "Don't be! As I said, it's not a trouble at all to take care of promising youngster from time to time, and Little Mao could use new friends too."

"She has made plenty since she could talk." Haku sighed.

"Having a hundred friends is still too few, having one enemy is already too many." and Yang sagely responded.

This back and forth argument was so much different from what Taylor heard during her short interaction at the castle, partially cementing her belief that Haku was either just messing with newcomers or just mean and abusive to those under her only.

Taylor didn't know who would be more terrifying, a supervillain that wear a visible mask when committing villainy, or someone like Haku and those three bitches who wear a metaphorical one.

"…are you listening? Taylor?"

"W… what happened?"

Her panicky reply earned a scowl from Yumeko who sat next to her, but the scolding never came as Yang come to her rescue "Relax, girls. This's not the castle, you're my guests, not servants. Try to relax a little bit more."

That calmed Taylor down despite the look given by Yang's sister and begins to enjoy the hospitality provided. And again, to her surprise, the tea was surprisingly good, considered Haku's attitude.

"It is my brother who prepared the tea leaves, he's the one you should be praising."

As if reading her mind, Haku spoke up before Taylor even said her thought out, but it rarely surprised her anymore, after all knowing that many have been sent here before, perhaps they also said the same thing?

Right then the door was pull opened revealing a figure of petite girl barely reaching teenage with freckles on her cheek, black hair tied into a double buns and dressed in plain Chinese attire not unlike Yang's carrying a backpack walking in and announced her presence by greeting the old man, seemingly didn't notice the people gathered in her home at all "I'm back, Dad!"

Yang shot up from his seat and greeted his daughter back with a wide smile "Oh, Mao, welcome home, how's that boy Lucius, Is he all right?"

At first, Taylor thought he was referring to the girl's boyfriend consider the girl was quite pretty despite the freckles and her experience during the hellish high school day in her previous life…

"Still the same careless idiot dad. You wouldn't believe what kind of poisonous plants he ate this time. I made him puke three times before he stopped being green."

…and again, her expectation was shattered when the girl replied the old man while carefully stowing her backpack in the corner of the room with a scowling face that was to be expected from someone who literally just cleaned up someone's puke.

And then, the girl finally noticed other three women in the room, she greeted both Haku and Yumeko with a smile "Hello, aunt Haku, Yumeko! I didn't know you two will visit today!"

Those two greeted the girl with affection, and then the girl turned toward Taylor. The girl sniffed, around Taylor who froze in place with indecisiveness on how to respond, before the girl looked up at Taylor's eyes and asks first "I never see you around before."

Yumeko cough, gaining Mao's attention "She's Milady's maid, and Haku wish for her to stay here for the time being."

Mao sighed and then turned to the fox woman and deadpans "Aunt Haku, are you sure your standard isn't an impossible task?"

Haku suddenly turned on her stoic expressionless mask and replies in a matter of fact tone "I'm certain that she's only the second person from the castle you've met this way."

Mao pouted "As if I'd believe you who's hundreds of years older than my dad." she then shook her head "You and dad never tell me how the hell you two become sworn brother and sister either."

"Maybe I'll tell you someday."

Taylor swore that she saw an amused glint in the fox's eyes briefly as she answered that question with a vague promise that caused the girl to huffed in response.

It was then that Yumeko poked Taylor and nodded meaningfully at Yang's daughter. Taylor caught on quickly but hesitated for a moment before she could muster the courage to speak up under the expecting glances "I… I'm Taylor Hebert, a maid under Ma'am Shinki's employ. Nice to meet you."

After she introduced herself, Taylor felt like a weight has been lifted off her chest as the old man smiled at her while his daughter took hold of her hands and shook vigorously while saying "Nice to meet you too Taylor!"

Haku chose that moment to drank her tea in one go and then stood up "I'm sorry that you have to wash the cups for me. But my schedule is tight. I'll leave Taylor in your care for a while brother."

Taylor wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but one of Haku's fluffy tails brushed against her nose and make her sneezed as she walked past. She sent the fox a parting glare just in time for her to slammed the door shut though.

"She's always busy during this time of the year. I hope you'll forgive her."

Yang's voice drew Taylor's attention back to him. She shot him a glare and deadpans "That's an understatement of the year Mister."

Yang didn't seem to mind as he responded to the girl with a kind voice "You should think a little more positive. Taylor."

Taylor snorted but suppressed her anger and tried to be polite with her host "I doubt I can do that with your sister Mister."

"I've seen many people my sister sent to stay here since I came to live here, and trust me that you're not the first nor the last who will find her unbearable."

To Taylor's surprise, Yang actually agreed with her, but that confused her even more.

"Then what do you mean by 'think positive' if not to tell me to try and like Haku… your sister?"

Naturally, Taylor asked her question out loud disregarding Yumeko's warning glare again.

"There're many kinds of teachers in the world. Some taught by being a good example, and some by being a bad example."

Thankfully, Yang seems tolerant of her question as he explained without any annoyance in his words.

"There is wisdom to be gain from everything you experienced in your life…" he paused as he looked at her in the eyes "…but wisdom may not always pleasant to the receptors."

Taylor pondered the meaning behind his words before she spoke up "You're saying that what your sister behaved is not acceptable and I shouldn't follow her example?"

"They're both good and bad things. Few are clear-cut bad or good. You'll see as you grow and experience the world." Yang replied in a cryptic manner.

It was at this moment that his daughter showed her face around the kitchen's door and spoke to the two maids "You know, you should start unpacking your stuff now, I don't have time all day to show you the room."

"Why's the hurry, Mao? Something happens?"

At her father's inquiry, Mao pursed her lip before pointing to the door "Mr. William asked us to check on his wife today, dad. Don't you remember?"

Yang's almost close eyes widened slightly and then he chuckled lightly "Ah, I almost got carried away by Haku's visit it seems."

Mao let out an exasperated sigh before walking up to Taylor. Without any words, she tugged on Taylor's sleeve "Let's settle you in while we still have time so I can get to know you better."

Taylor soon realized that she wasn't given a choice as the girl dragged her up to the second floor with Mr. Yang telling them to take their time from behind and Yumeko silently followed them.

They soon arrived at an empty room, which doesn't take long as this two-story house was much smaller than a single great hall in the Pandemonium Castle. Never mind Taylor's new room which has only one small bed and a waist-high drawer which doubled as a desk with a small lamp standing on it.

The unpacking of Taylor's stuff went quickly as it only amounted to Yumeko opened her personal pocket dimension and dumped out a tiny stack of neatly folded clothes and boxes containing essential belonging on the floor which Taylor simply put them inside the drawer without many problems.

It's not like she could carry over the items from her previous life, nor did there's a lot of her belongings to unpack in the first place.

"So…" Mao spoke up from the front door as soon as the final package went inside the drawer "…how did you become a maid in Lady Shinki's castle anyway?"

Taylor who just stood up paused at the question, no doubt contemplating the response due to her distrustfulness of strangers before she chided herself mentally for being paranoid to a girl she just met, being a relative to Haku was a flimsy excuse at best.

Still, she couldn't help but asked the girl "Has Haku not telling you?"

Mao shook her head in reply "Dad always said that it's a private matter that we shouldn't pry about unless they wanted to share it with us. So, even Dad won't know a thing more than that you get flunked out of aunty Haku's ridiculous test and have to live with us until those foreigners go back to their lands."

"I… see…"

Taylor couldn't criticize Haku's strange way of dealing with her family members though, not when she herself also not telling her Dad a thing about the bullying campaign until it was too late.

"If you're not comfortable sharing it, then don't."

Yumeko once again came to the rescue. Her mild glare directed at Mao as a warning, which the younger girl got the message and backed down.

However, Taylor finally made up her mind at that moment. She won't let her past dictate her anymore. Being paranoid of everyone including a little girl just because of her bad experience in high school is akin to acknowledging that those bitches still holding power over her to the point that she won't make friends even with children after given a second chance.

Taylor was fully aware that this cannot continue, Haku's indirect lesson during the 'test' notwithstanding.

"Ma'am Shinki…" She spoke up, catching attention from Mao and Yumeko "…give me a second chance at living, that's why I serve her."

Alas, the deep-seated paranoia won't go away with just a few words from everyone pointing out the problem. But at least, this was another step into the right direction, or so Taylor thought.

Mao accepted that vague explanation with a nod "All right. Standard 'I owe you my life' then."

Taylor was about to ask what she meant before the girl complimented her "You're a nice one you know. There're a lot of people out there who wouldn't hesitate to off their own parents or someone who saved their lives because it's convenient or 'beneficial'."

The last part she spoke with her hands in quotation gesture, not of a good kind if her expression was anything to go by. That ease Taylor's worries somewhat that at least the girl was a good person if a bit weird.

'But maybe it's because I'm judging her using a modern-day standard, not Medieval one.' Taylor mentally noted to herself as they were walking back to the living room where Mao's father is waiting.

"Oh, done already?" The old man quickly noticed their approach and greeted them. On the table was a heavy-looking leather bag containing what Taylor assumed to be medical supplies for the task ahead of the father-daughter pair for the day, but then, unexpectedly, Yang beamed at Taylor "Well, why don't you come along, Taylor? Yumeko?"

The two maids looked at each other before the senior politely declined the old man. Yang on his part didn't seem to dishearten and asked Mao to take care of his clinic in his absence instead.

"Someone has to stay here after all."

Mao nodded, seemingly didn't mind staying back that much. But given what she was doing previously, Taylor thought that it was understandable.

After that, Yang departed to his appointment of the day, leaving three ladies all by themselves.

Mao didn't go to the clinic immediately, she invited everyone to sit around the dining table to chat, and when Taylor asked if it's all right to leave the clinic unmanned, her explanation was something Taylor should see coming.

"The door was enchanted to amplify the knocking sound, so we're going to hear them even from the second floor."

Of course, this World has magic, how can she keep forgetting that.

Mao chose this opportunity to continue the conversation they left off seeing that no one come to the clinic yet "So since we're going to be living together for at least a month…"

"I have to help around the clinic in the meantime?"

She trailed off, but Taylor could guess what Mao wanted to say and replied. After all, she's an adult now, no more freeloading at someone's house anymore. Or at least, that's what Taylor was thinking of herself.

Mao nodded before she added quickly and in a more serious tone than earlier "Mostly housework, the medicines and treatments are not something you can learn to do in a month."

Taylor nodded, understood the reasoning, yet one mystery remains, and it concerns the daughter of this household, or rather, her apparent age.

"But you look younger than me and you're already treating people…" Taylor pointed out, and then quickly adds "…How long since you started practicing medicine?"

"Five" The girl proclaimed proudly if her puffing her chest was any indications.

"What about school?"

The girl's face turned into a frown at Taylor's question and shrugged nonchalantly "Why should I go to school when I have a clinic to run with my Dad? And it's not like I'd miss anything."

The response caught Taylor by surprise, only when Yumeko explained that she realized her error.

"We have mail lessons."

Sighing, Taylor muttered, "I keep jumping the conclusion, didn't I?"

"Indeed, you are."

Yumeko's voice reminded Taylor that she wasn't as quiet as she would like to think. However, she put that aside and resume the conversation with Mao. "Even so, can I study your… er… craft?"

Mao scratched her chin with a thoughtful look at the question before answering "I don't see a problem. My dad won't either." the girl shot Taylor a radiant smile and then muttered quietly "At least I'd happy to have someone to discuss my interest with."

"Pardon?"

"No, it's nothing…"

Taylor blinked, but then realized that maybe she was encroaching on a personal matter and dropped the subject. She then turned to her senior and asks when one thought surfaced in her head "Can I ask for a mail lesson in magic from Ma'am Shinki while I'm staying here?"

Yumeko rose her eyebrows in surprise before shaking her head "Mail lesson can only work if the subject it teaches won't endanger the student or people around them too much, can you say with certainty that magic study isn't such case?"

Taylor's retort died in her mouth and she looked down on her lap for she has no argument, not when she could realize the potential just by studying alone.

Sensing distraught in her junior, the blonde gave Taylor a small smile "There'll be plenty of things for you to learn while staying here. If you're so inclined that is. Who knows, you may find something interesting in the meantime." and then she adds "And no one says you cannot practice what you've learned so far while here. After all, magic is a commonplace in Makai, no need for secrecy here."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Yumeko shook her head at Taylor's response "No, it is not." and then she asked a question right back "But why focus on the unchangeable past, or the future that only realized with your actions in the present?"

Taylor stared at her senior and then sighed "That's like something Shinki would say."

Yumeko didn't respond this time. However, she didn't have to as that was already enough to nudge Taylor to make up her mind. She turned to Mao and smiled "I… I think it won't hurt to learn… I mean, I have to take care of people after all."

"Well, you're serving an old hag who didn't look any older than twenty, that'd make anyone forget that medical skill is useful."

Taylor didn't know how to respond to that remark and remains silent while Yumeko glared at the girl for perceived 'insult' to her mistress/mother. Taylor used that silence to think about one of her ideas, could she keep up with studying multiple demanding subjects whose failure could spell disaster at once?

In the end, she decided that it worth a try and asked Mao "Can I keep learning from you and your father even after this's all over?"

Yumeko turned to Taylor, looking surprised before Mao replied after a moment of thinking "Let's see how it goes during the stay first before saying anything else." she chuckled and admitted, "After all, the one who'll be teaching you would be my Dad, not me."

Taylor's felt relieved; she hasn't been rejected outright. The people in this household seems nice enough so far in contrast with that fox. Maybe this stay won't be as bad as she first thought.

Even so, her gut's feeling tells her that Haku will certainly plot something nasty for her if she didn't. Yumeko's and Shinki's assurance of allowing her to return to the Pandemonium Castle once this all blew over notwithstanding. And she won't deny her long-buried scholar habit anymore.

Hopefully, she'd up to the task and gaining something during this stay.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

At first glance, Taylor's timetable didn't change much, if at all. She had to wake up before sunrise to prepare for the day's work as same as when she lived in the castle.

The difference though was that her host also chose to wake up around the same time as her, which make sense, as they didn't have maids or servants to cater to them. And despite having Haku as a 'relative', said 'relative' seemed to not bother giving them the privilege from her position at all. If anything, in Taylor's opinion, that fox give them even more burdens to contend with in the form of looking after her or those who failed that stupid test she pulled out.

That said, Taylor has promised herself that she won't become a burden to this little happy family no matter what, despite their relationship with that fox.

"What's taking you so long Taylor? Hurry up, the groceries won't wait for us. First-come-first-serve and all that!"

Mao's voice from beyond the door snapped her out of her thought and remind her that her host still waiting for her to change and thus she quickly put up her maid clothing and opened the door to meet up with Mao in the hallway before heading out.

While Taylor wished she could have more variety of clothing than a dozen maid outfits and sleepwear, she still acknowledged that she has limited knowledge of fashion in this era, and her direct experience also came from a rather 'high-standing' resident instead of a common class. Her attempt at finding a change in wardrobe was doomed to stand out in the crowd, something which she didn't want to garner.

While asking Yang and Mao for help was certainly an option, Taylor hesitated to impose on them more than she already had. Not only they provided the lodging and meals during her stay, they even let her study their medical knowledge for free when she asked yesterday after Yang came back from his work. She couldn't bring herself to be more selfish than that.

As they trudged through the road under the gloomy red sky toward one of the market squares, Taylor observed the sight of the townspeople waking up. Mostly comprised of mothers or caretakers walking to and from the direction of the market square, with basket or bag either full or empty. Several smokestacks lining on the rooftop of the residential district showed signs of breakfast being prepared for the family who will soon go to work at dawn.

That moment, a shadow cast over her and Mao, drawing their attention to what Taylor assumed to be a housewife flying over them and landed at the market square which was now in their sight. Other fliers of many races were also doing the same as they approach their destination from multiple directions.

The memory of her argument with Yumeko from yesterday reared its head, and Taylor noticed that most of the female fliers she saw didn't seem to care about anyone looking up their skirts while flying at all. Hence, she decided to take a peek at another one who conveniently flew overhead… and saw something like a black mass covering the opening…

"Yeah, there're spells to hide things up their skirts. No point in taking a peek you know."

Mao realized what Taylor was looking at and snickered, which made the latter blushed in embarrassment and tried to shift her attention by asking a question.

"Is it something that comes naturally with flight magic?"

"It's a mandatory spell or technique that every female magician must learn concurrently with the flying magic. Failing that, or because they couldn't be bothered to do it, they'd just wear pants under their skirt."

Taylor felt an urge to smack her head against the nearest wall for forgetting the simplest solution to such a problem! And when she thought about it, even her bloomers kind of get it covered already and her fuss against Yumeko yesterday was meaningless!

They reached the market square which centered around a large Oak-like tree with white leaves and branches that covered the street around it. People from various races which Taylor could identify as housewife or servant from their clothing moving about purchasing grocery and various goods they'll need for the day or occasionally chatting with their friends and acquaintances.

Discounting the non-human or the fact that everyone was carrying their grocery basket instead of plastic bags, this place was just a normal market in Taylor's opinion.

"Oh, we're lucky. They've got fresh pork today!" Mao, who took just one sniff in the air exclaimed, which surprised Taylor as the girl pulled her sleeve "Come on, we must be quick before others snatched all the good one!"

Taylor didn't have a chance to ask how Mao knows that when a throng of housewife and servants blocked their sight from most of the stalls and smells of various foods and ingredients mixed to the point of practically indistinguishable before the girl dragged her through the crowd straight to the row of meat-selling stalls on the other side of the square which could easily identify by yellow light from lamps hanging over it illuminating their products.

Mao spared those stalls one glance and then walked to the one with a long line of people waiting to make their purchases. While Taylor wanted to remind her that they still have to go back to cook breakfast before Yang wakes up and that every stall was clean, she was also aware that Mao was the local here and know things better than her and thus ultimately left it to her judgment.

And that yet to factor in that Mao, or her Dad, seems to be well-known around here, seeing that many people greeted her with a happy smile which Mao returned the greeting right back.

However, the same couldn't be said for Taylor. People also looked at Taylor, but with a slight frown on their faces probably wondering why she was with Mao. Though no one came forward to ask about her or inquire Mao about it yet, she doubted that it would stay that way for long.

Indeed, she didn't have to wait at all, because as soon as the row shortened and Mao finally get to order the meat she wanted, the butcher - who was an insect person with three pairs of chilling blue eyes lining along his pale green carapace face completed with ant-like mandibles instead of mouth and four pale green arthropod arms jutting out of his brown shirt and blood-stained apron – looked at Taylor with curiosity while his hands expertly dicing up the meat into pieces as per Mao's order.

"So, who's this fine lady, little Mao?"

The growling masculine voice that emitted from between the butcher's mandibles almost made Taylor jump in surprise. He – judging by his voice - sounded gentler than she first imagined, made all stranger by the fact that his face and mouth was that of an insect and shouldn't be able to produce human language.

Mao didn't seem to care much, which is not surprising when her order of the day only amounted to "The same as usual for this month, Uncle!" and the insect-butcher went to work without further inquiry. She handed out her basket when he started packing the diced meat with leaves and threads and answered his question and introduce the butcher to Taylor with a cheeky grin "This's Taylor. Taylor, this's Uncle Orthog."

The insect-butcher silently waved one of his hands to the side, prompting Taylor to retrieved the filled basket and stepped to the side to let other customers place their orders.

"Er… Nice to meet you, I'm Taylor…"

Unsure how to greet the insect-man, she bowed slightly while introducing herself as Yumeko taught her.

"I see… you're from the Pandemonium castle, staying with Yang for this month, am I correct?"

Orthog's responded while chopping up another piece of meat for another housewife, his voice conveyed gentleness that his face couldn't, and it lifted Taylor's anxiety a little as she nodded at the insect-man question.

"Then I welcome you. Perhaps we will meet again. For now, I am busy."

"I…" Taylor surveyed the line of people who were politely waiting to make their purchase and nodded "I understand… later then."

"See you later Uncle Orthog!"

Without waiting for Orthog's response, the two of them left the meat stalls and moved on to another section of the market square to purchase other necessities. And the same event repeated with other vendors they meet.

"You're quite popular around here huh?"

Taylor muttered out loud as they were walking back to Yang's house with their basket filled with today's purchase.

Despite darker thought of Taylor associating her with social butterfly and hence, the terrible Trios, Mao break her expectation by sporting only mild grin and cheery reply that devoid of malice despite the deadpan content of her words "Well, when you're the local doctor of this part of the town and helping them since before I even born, it's natural that everyone will know me and my Dad."

Taylor looked down the cobblestone path they were traveling which was sparsely populated by people walking to and from the market square and muttered: "Helping people, huh?"

Mao heard the taller girl's muttering and glanced up "Yeah?"

"Well, from where I came from, there are heroes who beat up bad guys and I once dreamt of becoming one… did I said something?"

Mao's face suddenly gained a frown which caused Taylor to paused in her 'hero gushing' and looked at the smaller girl in apprehension and confusion.

After a moment of walking in silence, Mao finally replied with a slightly annoyed tone "I think that it'd be better than there're no heroes and villains at all…"

"Huh?"

Hearing Taylor's confused voice, Mao shrugged "Well, since this's the month of gathering and you're staying with us, you'll see soon enough."

Taylor was about to ask, but then they reached the house first and hence Mao asks her to cook the breakfast while she went into the store to prepare herbs and medicines for the clinic. And when the breakfast was ready, Taylor was already forgotten about the question partly due to the surprise that Renaissance household in this town has access to gas pipeline and hence no need to burn coal or wood, and partly in a hurry to finish the household chore in order to get start in the medical study before the clinic open.

Although part of her mind questioned the wisdom of learning from people living in such archaic era compared to her modern upbringing, Taylor also knows that there's no way she could get any modern medicines or healing techniques which require technologies hundreds of years beyond this world's grasp, and that world with different flora and fauna than Earth Bet was bounded to have different medical knowledge as well.

Taylor joined Yang at the table in the front section of his clinic. Said table which she saw covered in a blanket yesterday now has various plants… and hideous-looking animal innards and parts which caused Taylor to shuddered at the sight despite bereft of blood and gore lying on it.

The old man was unfazed while handing her an apron, a notebook, and surprisingly, a ballpoint pen which probably came to be because of magic screwing with technology development just like the gas stove, or so Taylor thought. Predictably, the first order of business was to memorize the uses of these ingredients, and that included sorting them out by hand.

And it was that moment where she learned that the old man became just as strict as Shinki during magic class back at the castle, if not more.

"Medical art is not a toy." He explained as he observed her trying to remember the difference between all those disgusting animal innards and parts, seriousness evident in his voice "People's lives rest on your shoulders. Medicine can become poison and poison can become medicine. Any slip-up you make risk death. Hence, I cannot afford to let you treat this lightly, Taylor."

"I thought that there're magic spells for healing people," Taylor argued as she pointed her finger at some livers and looked at the medical book Yang lent her for reference before filing the knowledge of how to prepare it or use it into her head.

"Well, seeing that my clinic and other mundane doctors around this town and in this World still not out of business yet after all these years, what do you think?" Yang asked back with a smile on his face and his voice bereft of malice, which caused Taylor to suppressed the urge to facepalm herself for forgetting such obvious fact.

"Those who can heal with magic are rare. Those who can cure disease with magical art alone even rarer, either this World or beyond. And even then, they still needed to study medical science to be effective, because not everyone has ample power to brute-force bending reality, like Lady Shinki." Yang continued, but then he added: "…even Lady Shinki won't do it unless it is really necessary."

Taylor's mind couldn't help but noticed the similarities of the healing magic and Parahuman with healing power on Earth Bet that they're both rare as hen's teeth and accepted Yang's reasoning. That didn't make picking up and sorting out 'medicine' less disgusting though.

At least, the plumbing and water supply system of the town was as advanced as in the castle, so freshwater supply will never be an issue, to which Taylor was thankful for magic or whatever that brought the semi-modern sanitary system to this Renaissance World hundreds of years early.

Taylor tried to suppress those feeling while continued with her study, but again her suspicion and modern common sense won out and again another question has been asked less than ten minutes after the previous one.

"Is what written here true, about all these things can be medicine? I… kind of find it hard to believe."

She partly expected Yang to ridicule her just like when she displayed her skepticism about magic to Yumeko back when they barely know each other, but instead, Yang smiled and calmly explained "It's a culmination of generations of studies, and trial and error that we learned what can be used to cure maladies, regardless of Worlds, Dimensions, or Universes. Can you say with confidence that people of your World spontaneously developed a knowledge of what can be used to cure any given diseases without experimentation first?"

Taylor couldn't rebuke Yang's statement because she knows he wasn't lying, not when she still remembered her history lessons from Earth Bet however short it may be, especially the fact that many advancements in the medical field came from inhumane experimentations during War or otherwise.

The lesson didn't take long, as the sun rose and Yang and Mao have to open the clinic soon, Taylor had to relocate to the back of the clinic and self-study with Mao to accompany her. It wasn't a great loss however, as Mao proved to be capable of handling the basic lesson without any insults or mocking. Practically an exact opposite

However, there was a problem…

"…now you know, the sensation of having your life hanging on a thread when eating a poisonous pufferfish is so great…"

'My God, she's a masochist!?'

As their conversation topic shifted to poison and medicine, Taylor quickly discovered, to her horror, that Mao has a few screws loose if she was this kinky when talking or thinking about consuming poisonous substances.

"Mao, are you crazy doing that to yourself!? You'll get yourself killed!"

Taylor couldn't take Mao gushing about the sensation of being on a self-inflicted verge of death any longer and yelled at her before she could stop herself. Glancing warily at the door to the front, she half-expect Yang to burst in at any moment for hurting his daughter.

"Not as crazy as those who shoved it down someone else's throat to see what happen."

But that moment never comes. The girl answered Taylor's question with a serious voice as if the previous gushing was just a hallucination, which draws Taylor's attention back to her in an instant.

Mao rose her eyebrows the moment Taylor focused on her and repeated her question "Well, what's better? testing the medicine and poison on myself, or shove it down some poor sod you came across on the street?"

Taylor gulped at the question, which reminded her too much of the gangs and druggies back at her (former) hometown on Earth Bet who is more than willing to drag people into the dark alley and inject them with drugs to get them addicted. Yang's earlier question also came to the forefront of her mind.

'If not them, then who'll be the lab rat?'

Taylor rubbed her forehead and replied in a defeated tone "Aren't you a bit too enthusiastic?"

"What's wrong with being passionate about things you like? And aren't you a little too pessimistic?"

Seeing that she's not going to win this argument, Taylor settled for a compromise "I know I'm just freeloading you, but can you please keep that down? It's…" she paused "…disturbing, seeing you like that."

Mao drummed her fingers on the table for a moment and then nodded with a slight disappointment on her face "I still insist there's nothing wrong with expressing your interest for the world to see. But I'll try."

Taylor fought back the urge to retort back about 'expressing one's interest' and continued studying the book. But her worries remain on one thing.

"If you're wondering if I'm going to shove something unpleasant down your throat or spike your drinks, don't worry about it."

Mao suddenly piped up as if she could read Taylor's mind, which alleviated her worry a bit…

"I will be going to ask you first before doing it."

And like that, her worries returned in full again.

"Can we just study books or the like without doing that?"

"If you're going to stay in the comfy castle and never get out to find the ingredients yourself, sure." Mao replied instantly, before adding with a more serious voice "But there's an old saying 'No plan survives first contact' and all that, I guess. Besides, are you going to rely on strangers with no credential whatever to supply you the ingredients you need? Or are you sure you won't need it when you get lost in the wood or something?"

Her question made Taylor paused in reading the book and pondered about her question. With a sigh, she relented and replied: "Tell me when we're about to do it."

"Yes!"

Mao let out an enthusiastic cry which startled Taylor a little.

After Taylor resumed her study, the girl also keeping her promise and tone down her 'enthusiasm' whenever describing effects of some medicines or herbs of interest that Taylor asked her with. The creepiness factor was still there, but it was now tolerable.

'On the other hand, this feels like a study session in the old day…'

However, her reminiscing of the happier time long gone was interrupted by several booming sounds in the distance. Taylor stood up almost on instinct and turned around to find that Mao also did the same.

"Prepare the medicine. Get those with painkiller properties first, consult the book if you have to, I'll handle the rest."

The grim look on the face of the younger of the two conveyed the seriousness of the situation well enough that Taylor quickly moved to do as she instructed without questioning. After all, someone who lived in a hellhole of a declining city full of superpowered gangsters and criminals for most of her life would know what it means;

A universal language of incoming trouble, and victims.

Yang didn't show up in the room Taylor and Mao were using to prepare things, but Taylor guessed that he has to wait there to receive whoever injured in that 'explosion' earlier and trust his daughter to prepare things in the back for him.

"Is this happen in the town often!? Hey, wait!"

Taylor asked Mao as she finished laying some strange color potion bottles on the table, while the latter went into the kitchen, causing her to follow and found that Mao has fired up the stove with a pot of water on top.

"Mao, this isn't a time to cook you know!"

Taylor couldn't help but quipped at Mao before her words died in her throat when the latter pulled out a wooden box carrying acupuncture needles and then stashed them into the pot. When she was done with it, she turned to Taylor and finally explained "We uses acupuncture to complement other treatment, so I have to boil the needles. Don't want the ill to become even iller after all."

Disinfection. After seeing the technology and knowledge ahead of Renaissance-era she came across up to now, Taylor wasn't that surprised anymore that disinfection technique could become common knowledge among doctors and pharmacists here. Though she couldn't help but wonder why there're no modern buildings erected in this town yet.

Once the preparation was completed, the two carried the equipment out to the front where Yang directed them to placed them on the counter, and then wait.

They didn't have to wait long before the victim of the 'explosion' showed up on the clinic's front door. On a gurney carried by a pair of minotaurs and another pair of goat-men who all dressed in an armor suit of the town guard was a large burly man dressed in white garbs with a golden symbol over his chest which reminded Taylor of clergy attire. The injury was clear for everyone to see from the red liquid staining the bandage on the stump where his entire left arm once was. The man's face was white from blood loss and seems to fall unconscious while transporting here.

Yang wasted no time ordered the guards to carry the man to the table, which was long cleared of all the 'medical ingredients' he used to taught Taylor that morning without a trace, and placed him there. Mao who was on standby at the table quickly swiped a set of needles from the box and quickly pin them all over the severed arm.

"Stop the blood flow first." Mao explained quietly while her hands still busy removing the bandage from the stump of an arm "Then numb the pain with acupuncture and potion, extract all the nasties in the wound out, and finally check for poison before shipping him off to the main hospital and hope that they can regrow his limb."

The old man Yang did exactly as Mao said with the tools prepared beforehand without missing a beat, and spared a moment to gesture his hand at his daughter, all but telling her to stayed on the sideline and explain to Taylor while he was working.

So far things were going smoothly, but it was hard for Taylor to understand what're they doing or why. Not for the lack of explanation, but because it was too fantastical to be true especially when considering that Yang and Mao are neither Parahuman nor magicians. The common sense of the modern Earth dictated that such small needles and herbal medicine shouldn't be able to stop the blood flow from such severe injury, or numb the pain as effectively as a modern painkiller and the clergyman on the table should be wake up screaming by now.

Taylor dismissed the thought. She was ignorant when she initially showed up in this world, and time and again was proven wrong.

'I should've stopped using modern Earth logic in this place.'

Meanwhile, Mao took the opportunity to inquire the guards about the happenstance of the clergyman. The goat-men and minotaur looked at each other before shrugged haplessly "He tried to stop the violence between a group of self-styled 'Hero of Justice' and delegates from Dragonoid when trying to pass through the town checkpoint."

Mao looked at the guards with sympathy, but Taylor blurted out in disbelief "What kind of Hero of Justice harms an envoy? How can they call themselves such?"

The town guards suddenly took notice of the brunette in maid dress and then turned to Mao with questioning glance, to which the girl replied flatly "She's from the castle."

"My condolence."

On one hand, it seems that such a short explanation was enough to convince the minotaur and goat-men town guards that Taylor wasn't some stranger illegally entering this town. But on the other hand, the display of sympathy from them was rather telling…

"Are you familiar with Lady Haku?"

Upon the hesitant question, the town guards winced and then nodded, which practically confirmed her suspicion – fellow victims – and thus no questions need between them. She idly wondered how come they could tolerate that arrogant fox when she wanted nothing more than punching her from the ridiculous test alone.

Taylor let that question lay and went back to the original topic, which the guards happily supplied with a slight disdain in their voice.

"They're fame-seekers, nothing more"

"It's no use to reason with a delusional racist prick like those adventurers styling themselves as Hero of Justice anyway. Claiming such title for themselves should tell you enough how they think of themselves."

"Delusional?" Taylor repeated the word from the town guard with questions written all over her face.

"Those guys keep coming out of the woodworks lately it seems…" Mao commented which earned a grim nod from the town guards, seemingly ignoring Taylor's question for a brief moment.

"Practically every year in fact."

The minotaur agreed with the girl, and after throwing a glance at the clergyman, he turned to Taylor once more "Sorry for not able to answer a question right now, Miss. We have our duty and must take our leave now. Hopefully growing his limb back at the hospital will be as quiet."

At his word, his companions quickly moved to secure the clergyman on the gurney while he pulled out several silver coins from his pocket and gave them to Yang who nodded and accepted the payment without saying anything. But when the minotaur was about to leave with the unconscious clergyman, he turned his head around to look at Yang and assured him "Do not worry about those adventurers, we've arrested them and will begin trial soon, even if those delegates from Theocracy who hired them as security ask us to be lenient, the law still has to be upheld."

With that parting words, they left the clinic in a hurry, no doubt bringing the clergyman to the one who can regrow his limb.

As the door slammed shut, Taylor and Mao were broken out of their thought by a cough from the old man "Look at two of you, interested more in gossips than watch and learn when I'm helping the man. Ah, youths these days…"

"Dad, I helped."

Mao mumbled a protest, which only caused her father to laugh.

"Sure, you are, but what are you doing after you have done helping me hmm?"

Despite his tone and smile devoid of malice or accusation, Taylor still looked down on the floor, admitted that she got carried away by the event than to pay attention to what Yang was doing to help the injured.

As if sensing her turmoil, Yang brushed the topic aside with a simple encouragement "Do better next time, Taylor. You're still young and can adapt easier than an old man like me."

"Yes, Mr. Yang."

After Taylor replied, Yang's face turned serious before motioned his daughter and Taylor to go back to the living room. Seeing his face, both of them could only obey.

As they gathered around the dining table, Yang didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point while crossing his arms on the table "While Mao already knows what I'm about to say, I'd like to use this opportunity to remind you all the same."

Taylor straightened up, and Yang continued "Do not associate yourself with adventurers more than you have to. Especially do not get any idea of being a Hero from those people."

Seeing his guest's confused and slightly mutinous look, Yang's eyes creaked open slightly and stare at her "I'm sorry to be demanding this early when your unpleasant memory of my sister still fresh. But things are not what it seems on the surface."

"He means those adventurers and their so-called heroism." Mao quickly supplied with not so small amount of disdain.

"Mao, be nice."

"But Dad, you know that it's true!"

Yang's eyebrow twitched at his daughter's argument, but chose to remains on the topic and continued with Taylor "Back to the adventurers and their so-called heroic act. Despite the name, in my eyes, they're nothing more than a glorified mercenary. As what happened today indicated. They will take on almost any jobs which require violence and glorify themselves in battles, hence mercenary."

Taylor nodded numbly but her question was partially answered and thus she asked: "But where's that 'Hero' thing came from if they're as you say?"

Yang let out a long breath, his gaze turned toward the door to the backyard before answered "Some people don't get along. No. I'd better say some groups of people will never get along."

When Taylor was about to protest the vagueness of his answer, the old man continued "While demi-human in this town and others that send delegates to attend this annual gathering are civilized, educated, and cultured, there're many of their kinds that rejected this and wander in the wilderness of this world, indiscriminately terrorizing people from the civilized towns and cities, accusing them of destroying or throwing away their 'true heritages'."

Taylor's sharp mind began to understand uttered out loud "These human adventurers battled them?"

"Along with dangerous wild beasts, yes." Yang grimaced, his face marred with sadness "Hence, their experiences clouded their judgment and prejudice take precedent, while those who were saved from the savagery of these tribes praised adventurers as heroes. Over time, they let it get to their head, and this's the result."

Taylor pondered on the origin of 'Heroes' and could find no fault in his reasoning, however that begs the question "You've been adventurer before?"

Yang shook his head "No, but I traveled this land of Makai for a while when I first arrived before settled down here…"

"You came from Earth?"

"Yes." Yang replied quickly, his face turned grim before turning back to the original topic "But that's a story for another time, Taylor. What I'm trying to say is sometimes the word hero is subjective, they don't necessarily combat evil, merely doing a good deed for one group of people is enough. But said deed doesn't necessarily benefit everyone."

It wasn't a strange concept given how the history of humanity on Earth Bet also marred with conflicts before the advent of Parahuman, heroes of one nation is a villain to their enemies, that much is undeniable. But for one growing up in the latter's era, it was hard for Taylor to grasp.

Still, most of the message got through and she agreed with him "I… understand."

Yang nodded and stood up "Keep that in mind when dealing with adventurers. I'd say this will not be the last incident that will spark during this month. It's hard for them to change their views of non-human after so long."

The old man clapped his hands calling the two girls to his attention "Now, with that out of the way…" his lips curled up slightly which gave Taylor a bad feeling which proven true in the next moment "…I'm disappointed at how fast you get distracted by the events around you Taylor."

Taylor's face fell, knowing that this was coming miles away, and unlike the school problems in her previous life, this one was legitimately her fault.

Seeing Taylor's face, Yang smiled "Let that be your lesson today. And always remind yourself that losing focus can cost people their lives in this field of practice. Also, do not hesitate to speak your mind to others, ignorance more often than not put people in danger in this line of works."

He made his way for the front of his clinic, but then Taylor decided to make use of his last advice "Please wait, Mr. Yang!"

The old man paused his steps and turned around, his eyes creak opened a little as if permitting her to continue which she did "I want to ask you about… about those tribes and their constant attacks on others."

Yang's eyebrow quirked up while his expression did little to give away his thought "Go ahead."

Taylor paused for a moment to gather her thought and then asks "What is your opinion about this town keeps playing diplomacy without going out there and help people in need? Why Shinki forbid people here from…"

"Tell me, Taylor…" Yang interrupted her question with a stern voice "…have your parents ever argued with each other?"

Taylor was caught off-guarded by the strange question that she took almost a minute before responding.

"Yes…" She whispered with her mind ventured to the time long lost in the World far away "but it's nothing serious, like what to buy or some stuff."

"What will you think if your neighbor showed up and tells your parents to divorce because he overheard that argument?"

…and then promptly yanked back to the present with Yang's question.

"Wha… what?" Taylor stuttered, her hands clenched the hem of her skirts, unsure why she has to get angry on a hypothetical scenario at all. Perhaps she was stung from being reminded of her old family? Or perhaps she was angry that Yang would dare to imply that he knows her family better than her?

Unknown to Taylor's thought, Yang replied a moment later "Your reaction, multiply by the number of people of said race who you wanted us to interfere, is the answer to your question."

It took another minute for Yang's response to registered in Taylor's mind, but when it does, her anger all but disappeared, replaced with realization.

Yang added once he saw his guest-turn-apprentice calmed down "Unless they invite us to help them themselves, going out there is the same as sticking our nose into their familial business, that path only breeds resentment." He sighed "And it's not pride that stopped them from calling for help, many times in history, outside help only traded one problem for another."

The bitterness in his last sentence was clear to Taylor, and before she could stop herself, she asked: "Is this your…"

"My personal experience? Yes." Yang replied with his eyes closed, he looked distant as he reminiscing the past "My home country on Earth faced a similar situation during my youth. In the end, no one in my homeland wins. I'm lucky to run into Haku back then."

It took Taylor a brief moment of refreshing her history lesson combined with Yang's age and name to guess which country he came from and what happened to it during his youth. But as if he read her mind, he preemptively held up his hands "That too, is a story of another time, like the story of my traveling days. Right now, you should get back to study. The day is still young. I'll be at the front if you need me."

Yang's tone leaves no room for argument. Taylor watched him leave before turning to his daughter who shrugged in response "Well, use this free time to crash course you before patients show up is a good idea, don't you think so?"

Taylor smiled and sits down while pulling out a book and begins reading. While Mao was right about clinic getting busy, she sincerely hopes that there will be none today.

* * *

**Author's Note**: For those who wish for interaction with Touhou casts, I'm sorry that it'll not be that way for a long while.

You see, this's 1950, while Touhou Windows was stated to be in 2000s some times after Reimu invented Spell Card rule. Right now Gensokyo is watching over by Reimu's progenitor without Spell Card rule, it can be... violent, and most of the main casts still not born as well.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After that exciting day of treating the unfortunate clergyman, the rest of the week was a lull in comparison. While there were still people who came to Yang's clinic to get treatment every day, there were only two more cases of injury by the violence between various foreigners gathered in this town for this month, all of them perpetrated by adventurers who were hired by the foreigners for security, and all of them were arrested by the town guards with no need for any vigilante's, or superheroes – if there's such a thing in the world such as Makai – interventions.

Taylor's question about why those countries didn't simply provide their troops for escorts but relied on adventurers was answered on the second-last day of the week when one of the adventurers – whose stout muscular physique and bare chest covered in scars would've made Taylor smitten with him at first sight had it not because of his wrinkled face, almost bald head, and white beard implying his age to be as old as or older than Yang - showed up on the clinic's doorstep while carrying another young teen on his shoulder.

Said teen was wearing leather armor which has seen a better day and when he saw Taylor and Mao, he opened his mouth trying to comment something before clutching his stomach with his face turning green and vomited onto the front door.

Taylor and Mao were on the front of the clinic at the time with Yang in the back sorting out the newly harvested herbs from their tiny backyard. The younger girl wasted no time directing the sick young man to the table and leave Taylor to inquire the muscular old man of happenstance, which the old man helpfully explained as poisoning from the forage they ate before getting into the town.

"Shouldn't your employer provide you with necessary supplies for this travel?" Taylor couldn't help but asked the old man, whose name was Borodin, while Mao was doing the dirty work of making the guy retched everything out into the prepared bucket with a careful application of massage and acupuncture to the back.

The old man laughed at her question, before calling out to his younger companion who just finished retching with a loud, obnoxious voice "Did ya hear tha young lass said? Stop being stingy and get some good meals already! Everyone told ya and ya ain't listen!"

"Shut up old man! Not everyone can fight with only bare hands like you!"

The young adventurer hoarsely retorted before reduced to a coughing fit with another retch came out into the waiting bucket.

Seeing the sorry state of his companion, the old man shrugged and turned back to Taylor "Well, just like tha lass said, we have to save up and buy our gears. They ain't cheap and we can't skimp on 'em. They save our lives after all."

"But…"

"The army? The town guards? Ha!" The old adventurer interrupted Taylor and laughed as if he read her mind "Not everyone employs tha army to regularly sweeping their land clear of beasts and bandits like this town lass. Waste of their money. Better spend them on their party and fancy dresses first. Why would you not know that lass? Aren't ya a maid from tha castle?"

Now that he mentioned it, Taylor searched her memory of the time she was serving in Shinki's castle and noticed for the first time that Shinki's lifestyle was much closer to the common citizen than Feudal aristocrats. Why wouldn't she know that? She and Yumeko took turns preparing meals for her since Yumeko learned that she could cook after all.

After a while, Taylor realized that she never notices how far from most aristocrats Shinki's living habit is. And now that she thinks about it: the castle is also a headquarter for town guards and town administration instead of having separate offices elsewhere in the town, so while the amount of food she saw preparing in the main kitchen is large, it's actually proportionate to the number of staffs, not for some kind of extravagant parties.

Or so she guessed.

But then a thought popped up in her head, and before she could stop herself, she asks "What do you think about Lady Shinki?"

The old adventurer glanced at his companion who seems exhausted from all the retching and was now receiving another set of acupuncture from Mao, and then turned back to Taylor "She's weird."

"Huh?"

Seeing the maid's dumbfounded expression, the old adventurer explains while holding out his hands "Peace, lass, I never meet her personally, but I'm not that clueless either." He paused for a moment before continues "This country is small, armed men are only town guards with no adventurer guilds or knights yet none wish to invade it. I have to give it to her that she can keep 'em warmongers off her back and even have 'em talk it out here."

"Perhaps that's why no one wants to attack this town." Taylor commented, "Anyone doing it will have an entire world crashing down on him."

"Yeah, yours is a good guess."

The old adventurer concurred, his hand shot up to his beard and begins stroking it in thought while looking at his companion who was trying to get up to his feet with Mao's assistance. The conversation never continues after that, as the old man thanked them for helping his 'newbie' and pay Mao for the treatment, which wasn't much, and then be on their way.

Taylor watched them disappeared from the front door and then went back to her medicine study. But her mind keeps pondering about what the old adventurers said. It implied that they have no clue at all that this world exists because of Shinki's effort, and from the various conflicts across the globe that still need Shinki's mediation annually along with Shinki's words back in the castle, neither do those of ruling classes have a clue.

That day went by and another group of adventurers showed up at the clinic in the evening. Treatments were administered with a minor hiccup when a drunk guy tried to grope Mao and Taylor, probably thinking he was in a brothel instead of a clinic curing his intoxication.

Taylor was ready to scream bloody murder right there and then, but Mao kept her cool while pricked the drunken adventurer in the neck, paralyzing him while his hands were too busy harassing them to react. After that, whatever she did to him by acupuncture was better left unsaid. It was only by intervention from Yang that the man still able to sire an heir after all was said and done.

That aside, Taylor got another opportunity to ask another adventurer who accompanied the drunkard on the opinion about her mistress while Yang was working to undo his daughter's 'treatment'. The reply was... interesting;

"The queen of this town?" The adventurer, who was a man in his mid-thirties, scoffed at her question "Let's say she's the enemy of adventurers like us."

"Huh?"

The middle-aged man huffed "Well, just look around, have you seen any Adventurer Guild yet?"

Taylor recalled from 'the tour' Mao given on the third day of living here before shaking her head, which the man grunted in response "See? No job for us here. If not because this bodyguard work paid well, we wouldn't be coming here. There's nothing for us to do to earn our keep in this town."

"I thought that other kingdoms rely on you because it's cheaper?"

Taylor couldn't help but pointed out the contradictory of his statement with the adventurer's earlier that morning.

The man narrowed his eyes at her which almost cause her to flinch, but the man didn't seem to notice while he huffed "Figure you can't do the math."

As much as she wished to throw her GED on his face, she didn't carry the certificate in her dress, nor did that piece of paper holds any meaning to the man in front of her, and the one who told her about adventurers being cheaper than regular army wasn't here, and thus she remained silent.

The adventurer took that silence as a sign to start showing off his knowledge if puffing his impressive buff chest was any indications "While they paid us quite handsomely, it's only a contract for this trip that lasts a couple of months. Levies just too incompetent to not expect them to run when things get tough, not to mention making your king looks like a beggar. But having an army of knights mean you pay them year-round and that gets expensive fast when it's you paying them and not the other way around." he beats his chest again just to emphasis "Hence it's us to show our fair country's prestige to this gathering!"

"That kind of moot when some of you guys causing a brawl in town."

Mao who was shifting through the list of medicines took time to look back and verbally jabbed the man. Taylor afraid that the adventurer will take offense, but her worry was unfounded as the man huffed in response. "Yeah, and it's on their head for doing such a thing! No doubt their pays get slashed after this, or maybe not, depending on how much their employer hates non-human."

"Nah, they hired you guys so that it won't reflect badly if you guys get into a brawl, just blaming 'uncultured adventurers' is enough. No loss to them."

The quip from Mao get the guy to shot her a glare but didn't do anything else after that and no longer talk until his partner was healed and they took off after paying Yang for his service, at a reduced price thanks to Mao's stunt earlier.

"Mao. How many times I have to tell you to not antagonize people?"

Once those adventurers were out of the clinic, Yang quickly scolded his daughter who seems unrepentant of her actions.

"Dad, you told me to not mince words and I'm doing exactly that."

Yang sighed at her argument "Are you still angry about that time?"

"Well, are you not Dad?"

"They're not the same people who left you without mother." Yang shook his head, while his voice sounded like he was angry at the subject as well, but it was controlled. "Lashing out on a dead man won't do you any good."

'So that's why she has a low opinion about adventurers and heroes.' Taylor thought as she was observing the father-daughter argument from the side. She felt slightly guilty about knowing their tragic past. But pretending that she didn't hear anything wasn't an option either as once the argument died down, Yang turned to face her while his daughter went into the back of the clinic to get the acupuncture needles disinfected and tidy things up. Although his eyes were almost shut, she knows he was looking at her anyway with that unreadable expression.

And somehow that was intimidating enough for her to bows and apologizes "I'm sorry for overheard your conversation, Mister Yang!"

Her preemptive confession somehow defused the oppressive atmosphere that she felt permeating the clinic, as the thin smile returned to the old man's face once more.

"Relax, Taylor" Yang spoke up, assuring her "I and Mao never keep it secret anyway, but neither did we go around telling everyone we met about it."

Taylor relaxed a bit, yet her uncomfortable persisted as she just learned something that she wasn't meant to know.

After a moment of tense silence, it was Yang who broke it first "Let get inside and sit down before we talk, Taylor."

She complied to his request on autopilot. Her thought mired with uncertainty and indecision of what should she do to placate the old man who showed her hospitality so far. She could barely notice herself sitting down at the table with Yang doing the same opposite of her.

It was Yang who broke the silence first "As you may already guess, my wife died during my traveling days."

His tone was like he was speaking about the weather and his facial expression schooled to unreadable, but for some reasons, Taylor knows that deep down he was still hurt by the experience.

After all, his and Mao's story was very similar to her previous life so much that she wondered if this's a bad sense of humor from some Deity watching her suffering, or that men are fated to face the same event across multiverses and space-time.

"What happened?"

"A group of bandits raided the caravan we're traveling with on the Southern continent." Yang replied, sadness and anger seeped into his voice for the first time "That caravan hired a group of adventurers for protection, you see. But they ran away the moment those bandits appeared, leaving everyone to fend for themselves."

Taylor held her breath as Yang sighed "I and my wife fought them off… there were too many of them, I and Mao are the only survivor from that caravan."

"I'm sorry."

Yang waved Taylor's concern away "I told you, I'm not angry that you pry." then his face turned serious, "I think you know the reason for my warning about associating with them on the first day now?"

Taylor nodded but one question nagged her mind and she decided to ask "What about Haku? Where is she in all this?"

Yang glanced at the table in front of him, his hands balled into fists as he answered with strained voice "It was my fault that she could do nothing to help. I have her signed a magically binding contract before I begin my travel in Makai."

"Huh?"

"Yes, and that's another thing I have to warn you about." Yang spoke, but then he quirked his eyebrows "Didn't anyone in the castle brief you on this?"

At the question, Taylor massaged her forehead with her hand while rummaging through her memories "Shinki did mention something about signing a contract. But I didn't pay attention at the time. I think anyone my age knows to not sign anything suspicious anyway."

The old man nodded grimly "I hope you get the message then."

"Is it that bad?" Taylor asked, thought ventured toward one of the World history class in her previous life where people frequently broke the agreements they signed without repercussion.

"I'm about to explain how Haku cannot help us back then am I not?" Taylor nodded at Yang's question, prompting him to continue "Magical binding contract will magically enforce the term of the contract to both parties with no way to break it without suffering consequences written on it. For example, if the term calls for your life for breaking the contract, then you drop dead when you break it."

Taylor's eyes went wide in horror, but Yang quickly assured her "It's not that bad, for it to be magically binding, you have to read the contract thoroughly and aware exactly of what it entails before signing. Also, most contracts will warn you first, like someone whispering in your ears that what you're about to do will break the contract and the consequence will be dire, only when you go through with it that the punishment occurs."

Taylor's worries were put to ease, albeit just barely, and Yang continued his talk "Anyway. Before I embarked on the journey around Makai, I asked Haku to sign a magically binding contract stating that she won't interfere with my journey regardless of what happens." He then gave her a bitter smile "And well, you know the rest."

As Taylor was contemplating what to say to the old man, he spoke up again "While I regret making the contract preventing her from helping, I didn't regret falling in love with my wife and having Mao." He paused for a moment and then insisted "…I might never meet her and have Mao if things were different."

An awkward silence fell between the old and the young. Although Taylor wanted to change the topic to something else to take the old man's mind away from his painful memories, her thought keeps venturing back to certain detail in the story he told, namely, how he fought off the bandits.

As if knowing what she was thinking, Yang preemptively answered her "I know some fighting skills, but I got enough of that to last a lifetime from my former home in the Qing Empire."

Taylor decided that it was time to make herself scarce, she stood up and told him in a hurry "I'll be helping Mao in the kitchen."

Yang nodded and Taylor took off. When she moved into the storage, she found Mao standing near one of the shelves, clearly waiting for her.

They stared at each other for a while, before the shorter girl broke the silence first with a snort "I hope that you're not here to tell me you're sorry or something like that."

Taylor winced at the girl's words "I…"

Mao shrugged and waved the taller girl's concern off "I'm not angry at you, Taylor. Like Dad said, it's pointless." then she spread her arms wide and spin in place, looking around at the assortment of items being kept there with a grin that looks like the earlier angst was an illusion "…there're many things for us to do, to discover up ahead. Don't you think so?"

Taylor was silent, while she could find merit in Mao's words, part of her couldn't help but disagree due to her circumstances of being in the past of one of the infinite versions of Earth.

The question 'If I could travel back in time, isn't that mean that the past can be changed as long as I can get back to Earth Bet?' nagged her mind for but a moment. But then she dismissed it, the knowledge about alternate worlds and multiverses came to the forefront, forcing her to admit that it's impossible. Only a miracle could get her back home.

The day passed by, and before Taylor knows it, the night has fallen with the red sky turned pitch black. Lanterns lit up along the road. The noise from the town largely died out leaving only occasional laughter carried by the wind from several inns and bars where caravan merchants, adventurers, and some townsfolks meet and drink together after a long day of work.

After changing into her sleepwear, Taylor sat down on her bed in the room Yang provided, reading the book on human anatomy while using her magic to light the pages. She couldn't help but feel that parahuman healers, however rare they may be, makes curing looks like a child's play while doctors both mundane and magical have to study for years or decade before they get credentials to treat the patients, for Makai at the very least.

"Never thought doing healing magic will be this hard…"

Taylor sighed as she put the book down and stare at the ceiling to rest for a moment before continuing her nighttime study session.

"Because the other way is to brute-force, something I do not want you to make a habit out of because you wouldn't learn anything from doing so."

But then she jumped up to her feet when she heard a familiar voice spoke up from behind her. And indeed, when she turned around, she found that Shinki was standing at the door watching her with an amused smile.

"Ma'am, I didn't think you'll be visiting." Taylor stammered out while bowing "I thought you're busy at the castle. And what about Yang and Mao?"

Shinki made a small hand gesture telling her newest maid to stop bowing first before speaking "Mao already asleep, dear, are your room not next to her? And Yang already knows. I greeted him downstairs before coming up here."

Shinki grinned teasingly which made Taylor wish to facepalm herself for forgetting such thing before Shinki answered the question "As for the gathering, the delegates already retreated for the night, so I have some free time. Is it wrong to use that to check on my daughter?"

"No, Ma'am."

Shinki took that as permission and walked into Taylor's temporary room. She took a glance and then gestured Taylor to sit down before asking the question Taylor saw coming miles away "How are you doing? Are there any problems you wish to discuss?"

Her voice was sincere and honest, making it hard for Taylor to lie to her that there was nothing to worry about. After a moment of inner struggle, she relented and asked her second mother; "I want to ask you something."

"Hmm?"

"Why you have to listen to Haku all this time?" she paused, seeking the right words, then continued "I mean, I get it that she's competent, but her attitude is terrible."

'And she's being an ass to everyone' was what she didn't say out loud.

The question asked, and Taylor was reminded yet again how nice it was to have someone genuinely listen to her again. Despite the accusation and the clear display of her grievance against the fox who was a close confidant to her, Shinki remained calm while carefully consider the question.

Finally, she answered "I need someone who can tell me right in my face that what I'm about to do or doing is a bad idea, someone who will not blindly worship the ground I walk on or take my words as gospel no matter how powerful I am. No one is perfect, and gods are not an exception. Hence, we need friends, advisors, confidants, to help cover for each other."

Taylor kind of expecting that answer, though part of her mind didn't want to admit it, she could see Haku doing just that considering her lack of tact. And her reasoning also brought to mind Yang's words about 'teaching by looking at a bad example' thing too.

"Also, speaking of friends, I think that this's an opportunity for you to make more friends other than people in the castle, else I wouldn't agree with Haku about sending you here."

Yet the next sentence, while surprised her, also filled Taylor with dread from the traumatized past. Despite making more friends in a single season than the last two years of her previous life, she still couldn't shake the fear of betrayal out of her system yet and it was already a miracle that she didn't see what Shinki just admitted as such.

But that doesn't mean she wasn't angry though.

"…H… How can you say this's an opportunity, Ma'am? I'm driven out of your castle! Away from people I know there!"

'Even though I didn't take time to socialize with them at all, else I'd pass that stupid test and none of this will happen.' was what the voice of reason whispered in her mind, but Taylor chose to ignore it in favor of venting her anger at Shinki however misplaced it may be.

Shinki's smiled in the face of her maid's near-outburst, calmly asked her a question that gives Taylor a pause due to how seemingly unrelate it was to the topic at hands "Do you know why many successful entrepreneurs throughout human history became as they are?"

"They're smart and popular?" Taylor replied hesitantly after a moment, knowing that Shinki could get insightful at time. Something that she still hadn't get used to yet despite months of interaction.

"That's one part of it. Another major part is they see opportunity in the place and time when all that everyone else could see is a crisis, my child."

And this reply did not disappoint in surprising Taylor again.

"It's with this way of thinking that they can thrive and succeeded while others still lamenting about their misfortune and bowed their heads to fate." Shinki continued sagely as she gestured toward the window which opened to the night sky "There're many examples throughout history, either this world or many alternate universes out there, that being smart doesn't always guarantee the success of any individual."

Taylor's eyes glanced at the dark sky bereft of twinkling stars or moon beyond the window, the view soothed her temper allowing her sharp intellect to digest what Shinki said.

"Also, while it's true that there're people who succeeded alone, most succeeded because they have friends that they can count upon to share their burden, directly or indirectly."

'Having a hundred friends is still too few, having one enemy is already too many.'

Yang's words came up in Taylor's mind when Shinki said that. And she finds it true especially the enemy part, having experienced it herself.

"I… I'll try… Ma'am."

Taylor mumbled, which earned an approving nod from Shinki.

"You shouldn't let those sad excuse of a people influencing you, my child." Again, Shinki read her concerns like a book "They are no longer here. And as I once told you; those who put down others for the sake of making themselves feel superior rarely get far in life without realizing the error of their ways."

"Is that from your experience?" Taylor asked, turning to look at her mistress questioningly, but when Shinki nodded, she complains about the last part of her statement "How is it fair that after all they have done they can still get away unpunished as long as they go to some random church and confess their sins?"

"Are you prefer that they remain the same throughout their lives so it's easier to hate them?" Shinki countered softly "Are you going to wish for more innocents to suffer at their hands so that your hate is justified?"

"…"

Just like that, Taylor's anger was smothered as she questioned herself; can she live with it? Wishing other innocents to suffer at the hands of her tormentors one after another until karma caught up with them? Not that she believes in karma anyway despite knowing recently that afterlife exists.

"However, your belief that some people cannot change is not entirely incorrect."

Shinki spoke up, breaking Taylor's thought as she turned around and stares at Shinki in surprise.

Seeing that she got Taylor's attention again, Shinki explained "There're many types of people, Taylor; some can realize their wrongdoing on their own and seek to rectify it, some require a little prods and nudges to change, some require firm hands and harsh lessons to see their fault, and some would rather die than admit what they're doing is wrong." She sighed "It's the final type that you should hate, for only violence, or sometimes, death, is the only language that can get through their heads."

While it was soothing that Shinki, despite forgiving and wise, also shared her dislike for certain types of people, Taylor couldn't help but spotted one problem…

"How can one know if a person can change?"

The question left her lips before she could stop it, but Shinki didn't seem to mind as she replies "That's the hardest part. Experiences, precognition or mind reader can only predict so much against the infinite possibilities of the multiverses and whims of the people. And hence the reason why we must at least give them a chance to redeem, initially."

Taylor looked bewildered by her claim "Then what's the point of precognition if it's unreliable?"

"Do not change the subject, my child." Shinki lightly warned, which earned an apology from Taylor, but she answered regardless "These skills only predict the most likely outcome. But as I said; multiverse and people in it are whimsical and influenced by far too many factors that even gods cannot grasp fully. It is why science experiment has to be done in a controlled environment, lest the result is unpredictable." and then she adds "And to say nothing about multitudes of counter clairvoyance abilities that people across multiverses came up with. Some are very impressive too."

Taylor digested what Shinki said silently, the medical book laid forgotten on the bed beside her.

"We've strayed a little too far from the original, but I think it's fine." Shinki finally spoke up after a long silence between the two, her smile returned once again "So, is there anything else you want to share with me?"

To Taylor, that question sounded like a mother asking her child how's their day at school have been. It's not entirely unwelcome, yet she struggled on what to talk as she hasn't done this since her birth mother died, her Dad wasn't in a talkative mood since that time and her friends turned on her all at that exact moment also exacerbated the problem.

However, those silver eyes still looked at her expectantly, patiently waiting for anything excuse to talk with her, perhaps to help her get some issues off her heart. She can appreciate that.

"I… have a question for you." Taylor finally spoke up, and then quickly added "If you don't mind, of course, Ma… Shinki."

The last sentence was unnecessary, but Taylor thinks that she should try to be polite regardless. After all, profanity and vulgar language became part of the last two years of her previous life thanks to those three bullies, apathetic students, and apathetic officials, so she feels that keep using it would mean those bullies still have their grip on her life even today.

It's not because Yumeko keeps drilling into her head how to behave as a maid, definitely not!

Taylor continued when Shinki nodded slightly giving her a permission to go ahead "Are you disliking heroes?" she paused for a moment when those silver eyes bored down on her before she gathered courage and pressed on "I mean, from what adventurers we met over the week, they said that you don't permit their guild to be based here and that you do not find the need of them despite the rest of the world does. Isn't your society need heroes?"

Shinki brought her hand up to cover her forehead and sighed after the rant was over "I'm not surprised that you will bring this up after coming here, given how your original world function…"

Taylor wasn't sure if that was meant to be a compliment or insult, but Shinki stopped her thought from going wild, unintentionally or not, with her next sentence "I'll be honest with you, Taylor, that I have issues with theirs and your definition of heroism."

"Huh?"

Taylor blinked, seemingly cannot comprehend what Shinki was talking about for a moment until the memory of her interaction with Yang's daughter flashed through her mind that she uttered a small "Ah." in realization.

Shinki smiled in approval "I see that you get what I'm about to say. But allow me to ask you this;" she paused to make certain that Taylor was paying attention before she let the question slip "Do you believe that everyone can be a hero?"

The first thought that came to Taylor's mind was "no" because a normal person cannot hope to fight a parahuman given the common sense of where she grew up, but when remembered what exactly the person in front of her is, she doubted about giving such a simple answer.

And apparently Shinki wasn't expecting an answer either, as she took Taylor's silence as a sign to reveal it "Just like how I tell you there're many types of people in the multiverse, there're many types of heroes as well." she nodded toward the door "Yang and Mao are heroes, for they saved the ill and injured from suffering and torment. Farmers are heroes to those whose bellies rely on nourishment from their crops. And that's just the simplest example."

Taylor's eyebrows scrunched up as she tried to comprehend what Shinki just said, until the silver eyes woman asked once again "Have you never heard of great people of the past, long before the advent of parahuman? Those who discovered the existence of microbial lifeform and hence the source of disease which allow people to cure what once thought to be incurable? Those who invented contraptions to improve the quality of life of the common masses instead of weapons to kill, maim, and burn others for their glory? Are they not heroes whose deeds still felt even in modern time?"

"…"

Lack of response seems to encouraged Shinki to continues "I'd say, I held these types of heroes in higher regard than those who used violence as a claim of fame. But as I said before; they too have their places." and then she asks "Is this answer your question?"

Taylor was silent for a moment before replies "When you say it like that, I think I agree with you about heroes and violence thing."

Shinki rose her eyebrows, her silver orbs watched Taylor with curiosity as she asked "oh?"

"Not completely, you said it yourself, time and place." Taylor finished while smiling a little.

"Indeed, indeed…" Shinki chuckled at Taylor's audacity to threw her words back at her. While inwardly she was glad that Taylor has started to become more confident and a bit more trustful. Which, given what this girl went through and the recent squabble with Haku, it was impressive.

"So…" Shinki spoke up again after some time in silence, mirth in her voice "…Do you think you'd like to become a doctor by studying from Yang?"

Taylor's face turned into a frown instantly, she averted eye contact with Shinki by looking up to the ceiling as she mumbled, "I thought I have to be your maid for the rest of my life as part of the deal?"

A soft laugh escaped Shinki's lips put an end to her assumption before her playful response even uttered "I appreciate your eagerness to serve me, my child. But I'm not cruel enough to deny anyone's future, provided that it's within reason. If you have some higher calling, then I won't stop you. But we have to negotiate with the celestial governing the afterlife first, of course."

Dark thought of Taylor resented Shinki for telling the Grim Reapers or whoever governing the afterlife of her existence and briefly wonder if it is possible to fool these Grim Reapers from noticing her and live normally, free from Shinki's contract. But she then realized that it's an impossible task, all those afterlife governors have to do is to look at the memories of the dead people who interacted with her when they were alive during the trial and then all hell will be loose upon her, literally.

Even if she wasn't religious doesn't mean she didn't study about the belief of an afterlife, after all.

The only way for them to not notice her, the illegal immigrant of this domain, is to live in isolation from society, something she will not do in her second chance at life. In the end, her rational mind concluded that Shinki was in the right to informed them, at least that spared her from getting hunted down and send to hell for her transgression.

"I'm not going anywhere for a while, Ma'am." Taylor replied with certainty in her voice, which surprised Shinki a little as she picked up the medicine book and showed it to Shinki again "There're still many things to learn before I can decide what I want to do in my life. Even if I have to tolerate Haku while working at your castle, I'm sure that you won't let her kill me like those three, right?"

"No, she will never do that. I can promise… hmm?" Shinki replied easily and assured her new daughter, but suddenly has a contemplative look which turned into a realization one in just a moment later, much to Taylor's confusion.

After a moment, Shinki suddenly asked; "Speaking of which, do you think you'd like to study with Yang and Mao here for longer?"

At the sudden question, Taylor replied after taking a glance at the book in her hands "I'd like to, it's not like I can become a full-fledged pharmacist or doctor in a single month." and then she asked "But isn't I have to go back to work at the castle once this month is over?"

Shinki smiled turned mischievous at the question before she explained.

Once Shinki told her of what she had in mind and several arguments between the mother and daughter later, Taylor feels that she couldn't thank her enough. This certainly eliminated any doubts in her mind about whether Shinki cares about her or not.

After they went down to the living room to bid Yang good night, Shinki returned to the castle with teleportation, while Taylor put the book away and went to bed, sleeping with a smile on her face, dreaming of what her future would bring.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Weeks passed by since the last visit from Shinki. Taylor went back to studying from Yang and Mao with renewed vigor. Although still squeamish about some disgusting 'medicines', Taylor gritted her teeth and endure, knowing that many doctors both past, present, and future, had to face the same challenge before become fully accredited, which make her respected them more than before.

Apart from the study which began to get harder as Taylor delved into the human anatomy, life in the clinic was never boring after Shinki talked to her about heroism through violence. Now she could find a little joy in helping people of their maladies, even if said help only amounted to being a handyman for Yang or Mao because her knowledge and skill weren't good enough to do it herself, and probably won't for a few years provided that Shinki's arrangement worked out.

When thinking about what she discussed with Shinki that night, Taylor frowned, not because of fearing reprisal from certain fox under Shinki's employ, but the expectations and burdens that will result from this deal.

'Even if the deal goes off without a hitch, it isn't going to get any easier.'

Taylor thought as she diced herbs that look like blue ginger into tiny pieces, idly noting with slight disappointment that household grinder hasn't been invented yet, and even if it did, there was no electricity to run it, only gas line. She mused a little on whether it's a worthwhile venture to invent a magical grinder or not.

Putting that idea aside for the later, Taylor finished her assigned task by putting the crushed herb into a glass bottle half-filled with syrup for preservation, and then attached a label to it before putting it on the storage shelf. Afterward, she left the backside of the house to join Mao at the front door, basket on her back and began a journey toward the usual market square.

Despite the time was well into the afternoon, the market was still buzzing with people, though the type of people changed from housewives and servants to merchants and travelers buying supplies for their journey, with town guards posted around the square to keep order.

For the duo Mao and Taylor, they never come to the market this late, today was the exception because of one certain vendor in the market selling certain ingredients for medicines in Yang's clinic was scheduled to show up today. If they missed the purchase, then it'd be another month of waiting.

"Are there no other suppliers for this thing?" Taylor asked as they approached the market square, passing by a pair of town guards who took a glance at them before letting them in.

"The same reason why I always buy meat from Uncle Orthog whenever possible." Mao quickly replied without missing a beat as they slowly made their way through the throng of people with Mao leading Taylor toward the destination on the opposite end of the square while the taller girl pondered on the answer she received.

However, Taylor couldn't focus on it for long when she caught sight of a pair of young adventurers judging from the clothing they were wearing. But what caught her attention was that they were sweeping leaves and garbage off the street with brooms in their hands to be picked up onto a waiting cart, and a pair of human town guards in full armor standing watch over the duo with several passersby shot them glance of curiosity once in a while.

Mao saw what caught Taylor's attention and deadpanned "Well, are you not going to greet them?"

Taylor looked at Mao questioningly until the shorter girl shrugged "She won't go anywhere until the evening and she doesn't have many customers, we have some time to spare. I dragged you out here early because of habit."

After looking at each other, they decided to approach the group in question. The town guards spotted them when the adventurers were loading the garbage onto the cart and greeted them first, or specifically, Mao.

After an exchange of pleasantries, Taylor finally got the chance to ask the guards while glancing warily at the adventurers who were still busy loading the cart, grumbling something incoherent all the while "Why are you using them to sweep the street, Mister?"

The human town guards looked at each other before the one with a goatee scratched his chin and answered "This's a punishment detail, lass. These lads…" he nodded at the adventurers who just finished loading garbage up and was now looking at them "…caused a brawl in our fair city and almost murdered a clergyman who tried to stop them."

Taylor's eyes widen as she remembered that old clergyman from the other day, while they weren't the same guards that brought him to Yang's and then to the hospital, she still asks "How is he?"

The goatee town guard answered "Last I heard, he's fine now. Arm reattached thanks to the healer just in time." he then glared at the two adventurers who at least had enough decency to looked away in shame, probably because the clergyman they almost killed was either from the religion they worship or someone they respected "Which is fortunate for these two, else their sentence will be harsher."

"You get the convicts of almost-murder to do community service instead of serving a sentence in prison?" Taylor asked the obvious question. "Are you not afraid that they'd run?"

"Hey!"

"What do you take us for? A no honor thug?"

It seems that Taylor was too loud, or the adventurers had better ears than she thought. Taylor quickly apologized, clearly not expecting them to react like that. The adventurers were about to say something, but one look from the town guards and they settled to just accepting her apology.

The town guards, seemingly satisfied with their behavior, turned his attention back to Taylor again "Well, if they run, we'll write a report to Adventurer Guilds across the world. Or at least, Guilds that established within countries that attended this month's meeting..."

He left the sentence hanging, but it was enough for Taylor to connects the dots by herself what are waiting for those who avoid justice of this town.

"Also, letting them sit in the prison is counterproductive." The town guard continued, completely unconcern of her thought "Lady Haku said that having them laze around in a cell doing nothing is like giving them a holiday. Have them work for meals but no payment is a much better punishment."

Taylor couldn't exactly disagree with that logic despite seeing the flaws in such measures. Her words with Shinki came to mind as she inquired further "What if the convicts are violent and unrepentant?"

The town guard's eyes twitched before the senior one pushed the man she was conversing with aside and replied with a grim look on his face "We hope we'll never face one. The sentence will not be pretty, that much is written in the law."

The implication was unsettling, but Taylor decided not to pry further by Mao's insistent tugging at her sleeves to get going. The two of them said goodbye to the town guards and all went on their separate way.

Once they were out of earshot from the convicted adventurers, Mao turned to look at Taylor and spoke up as if she knows what she was thinking "Before you let your imagination run wild, shouldn't you ask Lady Shinki first?"

Taylor blinked, the thought about laws and punishments of this town came to a grounding halt as she processed Mao's words before she silently nodded. Mao was right, she shouldn't be so quick to open a rift between her and others again after having a second chance like this.

After all, history was studied to learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeating it.

Taylor noticed that Mao led them to the stall selling plant seeds that have fewer people waiting than the nearby ones, and the vendor behind the stall was also equally noticeable.

After all, that bob of wavy green hair was certainly not natural hair color for a human woman despite there was no pointed ears, fangs, horns, or any additional body part to mark her as other species at all, at least, as far as Taylor's normal eyes could see. Even her choice in the clothing of a long-sleeve white shirt, a yellow tie, and a red ankle-length dress that wore over the shirt didn't stand out from the crowd at all.

When they drew closer to the middle-aged woman's stall, Taylor decided to use her Mage Sight on the woman on a whim. But as soon as she activated it, she was taken aback from the overwhelming feedback from the sheer power the woman – no – being behind that stall emitted that she briefly wondered why no one noticed her, or why no guards were around yet.

"Like what you see? child?"

A melodious voice from that woman-like being interrupted Taylor's thought and put her mind in a panic of garnering attention from the being she observed. Only by Mao's firm grip on her arm placating her instinct to run away by reminding her that the girl knows the being in front of them and that nothing harmful will come to be from their confrontation.

That, and the fact that the being was a vendor that Mao regularly buy from and won't accept any substitute speaks volume of the trustworthiness of the being.

A moment later and the two of them stood in front of the stall looking at the various plant seeds that the being was selling. However, Taylor found it's hard to focus on looking for what they want to buy while a pair of red eyes were looking at her curiously.

Luckily, they weren't under any timetable as they're the only customers of this green-haired being's stall at the moment. Hence Mao decided to introduced Taylor to the vendor instead of immediately search for the items she wanted.

"Lady Kazami, this's Taylor, a newly employed maid from the castle staying with us for the month. And Taylor, this's Lady Yuuka Kazami, she's the one supplying us with some rare medical ingredients, the best one!"

Her voice was genuinely cheerful as usual, easing Taylor's worries a little as she bowed slightly at the being called Yuuka who showed a coy smile at her attempt to be cordial.

"It's nice to see a new friendly face around here too, little one." Yuuka spoke up first before she paused and chuckled when she noticed that the raven-haired maid was averting eye contact with her "Relax, little one, I'm not going to hurt you. Has the fact that this marketplace is still standing not enough to convince you?"

Taylor looked up at Yuuka's ruby-red eyes and nodded, elicited a smile from the latter.

After the pleasantries were exchanged, Mao asked Yuuka for the items she requested, which Yuuka has prepared specifically for her. Hence, the transaction was quick and their baskets were filled with bag holding plant seeds soon enough.

However, Mao decided to stay and chat happily with Yuuka, which is understandable considering that the latter only shows up once a month. Yet, when observing the interaction, Taylor wondered how did the little girl not afraid of someone like Yuuka at all. Ignorance was definitely not an excuse, with how much raw power Yuuka was emitting, there was no way that Mao wouldn't sense anything when she could sense magic too.

"What are you daydreaming about, little one?"

Yuuka's voice cut through her musing snapped Taylor out of her thought and recoiled a step back when she realized that somehow the green-haired being has walked up to her and now standing mere inches from her without her noticing.

An amused smile graced Yuuka's lips while Mao's snicker at Taylor's expense, which caused Taylor to give the girl a stink eye despite knowing the Mao wouldn't faze by such display.

Displeasure has to be made known, after all.

"Let's me guess…" Yuuka's voice brought Taylor's attention back at the speaker "It's about how you can 'see' my power but not Shinki's isn't it?"

Taylor's surprise was clearly shown on her face and Yuuka chuckled at the reaction before answering. "It's not that I'm stronger than her if that's what you're thinking. It's because I lack subtlety. That's all to it."

"Or it's because you don't see the point to be subtle, Lady Kazami," Mao interjected with slight sarcasm, seemingly not afraid of a being of immense power at all.

Another soft laugh from the woman in question "I find it more useful in deterring pest, either in this world, or mine."

That caught Taylor's interest almost immediately, followed by questions "You created a world too?"

Yuuka shook her head "Less of a world and more like a pocket dimension large enough to contain my home, a field for my children, and a sky for the sun to shine through. I'm not strong enough to build an entire world for millions like Shinki. And even if I can create a world, I don't fancy sharing my land with other people who will abuse it."

Taylor felt uncomfortable with the way Yuuka expressing her opinion, apathetic and selfish when compared to Shinki, yet it felt right. Shinki's ongoing effort on diplomacy at the castle in the distance came to her mind.

'Maybe Yuuka doesn't want to deal with such headache.'

Mao chose that moment to chimed in and break Taylor's thought "I'd say it's better that way, otherwise, we wouldn't have high-quality ingredients like this." she patted the basket filled with bags carrying the purchases for emphasis.

Taylor could only nod in response as she knows nothing about how to cultivate the seeds they bought. She doubted it'll be like regular seeds she learned about to in her previous life. Nothing is ever certain when magic was involved, after all.

"I…" Taylor began "I hope we're not interrupting your business, chatting like this."

Yuuka waved her hand dismissively "Not at all, little one. It's not every day that I get a chance to talk with people peacefully. While I can gate to Eastern Wonderland, that place isn't quite as open as Makai and things tend to get… violent whenever different beings interacted with each other more often than not."

It was the third time that Taylor had heard of Eastern Wonderland, the first time it was from Shinki, and the second time was from her senior and head maid, Yumeko. She has deduced by herself that it must be another world or dimension connected to Makai and one of the normal Human Worlds out there, and probably with creators watching over it and its denizen which some of them chose to take refuge there instead of Makai.

It was frightening to learn that there're so many godlike beings out there that could create and destroy Worlds on a whim. It was only two that she met personally now, but that's still too many in her mind. She didn't doubt their claims at all, not after what she saw.

Mao continued the conversation for a little bit, asking about the wellbeing of Yuuka's children and some such but Taylor didn't pay much attention to it before they finally decided to parts way several minutes later with baskets on both of their backs.

As they turned the corner into the small road leading up to Yang's home, Mao finally spoke up about the person they met earlier "Seriously Taylor, what are you afraid of Lady Kazami anyway?"

That caught the taller girl by surprise as she turned to look at Mao and accidentally admitted to the latter's question "Am I that obvious?"

A nod from Mao was followed by a reply "I once traveled the world with my Dad and Mom before Dad settled down here, remember? And our family's occupation means that I met a lot of people, and know a little about how to read them."

"I… see…"

'Compared to someone like me who rarely socialize except for a couple of best friends at best, let alone leaving my hometown and make more friends outside.' was what Taylor didn't say out loud.

Upon another urging from Mao, Taylor finally caved in and expressing her fear about Yuuka's claim, which she believed to be true considering what her Mage Sight showed her.

After Taylor finished, Mao shrugged "Well, Yuuka is quite nice as long as you're not trying to press her buttons." she paused a bit "Hard to do because most of her buttons are in her home pocket dimension, Mugenkan she called it. But she won't hold back if you try to hurt her. It's a miracle that there're no so-called righteous adventurers styling themselves as heroes dying from provoking her yet."

That was reassuring because Yuuka still cares for her children back at home which somewhat helped to humanize her a bit in Taylor's mind.

Speaking of which;

"It will be over next week isn't it?"

The maid mused nervously, didn't expecting answer from the girl she was walking with. However, Mao was still as sharp as ever as she immediately knows what Taylor was talking about.

"Yea, finally we'll have some peace for another year or so." Mao groused "A lot of merchants would say having more customers is a good thing, but when you have to see them get hurt for you to make money, it's not a fun or good thing anymore."

Again, Mao's complaints challenged Taylor's belief that people with special power should don a mask and goes out into the night to combat villains is normal and should be expected. And worse, Taylor cannot dismiss it at all, given what she experienced over the weeks where the injured seek out their help, and she was sure that there were more in other clinics and the main hospital that she couldn't see.

Taylor was silent for the rest of the way back to Yang's clinic, troubled expression etched on her face as she pondered the question which plagued her mind; 'Is wishing to be a hero to fight villains on the street equal to wishing people to be in danger to be saved, and wishing for others to turned from a good honest people of the society into villains?'

Granted, Shinki said that there're time and place for everything and that some people will still become villains regardless, but if given the choice, should she wish for something like that to happen to a peaceful and innocent people just to make someone a hero to save them?

"That brooding face again." A sigh from Mao broke Taylor out of her thought. She watched as the smaller girl put hands on her hips and pouted while walking backward in front of her to keep eye contact "When will you knock it off Taylor? It's annoying to see someone making that face every single day without telling me or my Dad what's going on."

Taylor hesitated about telling her what she and Shinki were planning, despite the assurance from the latter, the paranoia part of her mind still doubtful that Yang and Mao would okay with it without Shinki being present in person. But on the other hand, they deserved to know as it involved them directly.

'If I do not tell them, then I'm no better than Haku!'

Her mind made up, but she asked Mao that she'll tell her and Yang together back at the clinic as it was a private matter. Skepticism plastered on Mao's face for a moment before she accepted the offer and they resume their walk to their resident in silence.

It turned out that Taylor's worries and paranoia were unfounded; the father-daughter duo accepted the proposal without a fuss except for Yang looking at her with sad eyes for some reason, while Mao was happy and couldn't wait for it to become official.

Mao still loved Haku though, not surprising considering that she was the only family member left in the world of the living. But the girl also thought that the fox could use some lessons that not everyone will always put up with her attitude.

Getting another fellow apprentice in the art of medicine studying and working alongside her was also a plus in her book too.

* * *

Finally, the last delegate from foreign countries left the town after the conclusion of diplomatic gathering the other day and people in the Pandemonium Castle. And it was only a matter of time before Shinki sends someone to fetch Taylor back to the castle and resume her duty there, probably under even stricter supervision from the chief guard, Haku.

At least, that was what Haku probably planned to do.

Since waking up, Taylor was sitting in her room, trying to read a tome of human anatomy without much focus. Her gaze constantly shifted nervously between the door and the tome. She didn't even get downstairs to help with Mao and Yang like usual.

She couldn't thank Mao enough for bringing a simple vegetable porridge as breakfast to her room up here when she didn't show up at the dining table. The smaller girl just waved it off, saying that it was normal that their 'guests' will get nervous when faced with such pressure from her aunt.

"Besides, you're about to do thing that others that came before never tried." Mao added with an expectant smile "Better take this time to calm down and prepare."

Mao was right, she couldn't cower behind Shinki in this plan lest Haku called her out on it. But still, it was hard to focus her thought today, her mind kept wandering back to the question of what to do if it doesn't work.

She didn't know how long the time has passed, but a knock at the door broke Taylor out of her thought to reply to the one behind it "It's unlocked."

Surprisingly, the one behind the door was the old man who sheltered and fed her during the past month, Yang, instead of his daughter. He politely asked to come in and talk, which Taylor didn't see a reason to refuse.

After all, she could use some counseling right now.

Yang stood in front of Taylor with his arms crossed over his chest for a while. His almost-shut eyes scrutinized Taylor in silent and unreadable expression before his lip curled into a frown "You're still nervous."

Seeing no reason to deny his assessment, Taylor nodded, which prompted Yang to continued "Do not worry too much. Remember my story? She can and did concede before, this wouldn't be the first time." He gave her a reassuring smile "And we have a sound reason, not something you cooked up on a whim."

Taylor almost flinched at Yang's attempt to calm her because it was partly her selfishness that brought this about because Shinki didn't do this for Yumeko when she was in her shoes in the past as far as she knows.

'How can she endure that fox treating her back then and still working with her professionally like now?' Taylor sighed, she doubted she could get an answer without invading her senior's privacy.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." Yang cut her off with his fatherly voice before she could speak further "I know that you want to look after yourself without relying on others. But you're still young and inexperienced, there's no shame in relying on other people. Even I have to rely on others all the time."

Taylor looked confused at Yang's admission. In her eyes, he was looking after himself just fine after all, so why did he think that?

"Tell me, Taylor," Yang broke the silence once again after seeing her expression "Where do you think the food on our plates came from? We exchange our money, our service and profession, to get them without us doing the hard work of cultivating crops, raising cattle, fishing or hunting for game meat. The gas in our kitchen came from others who refined and produce it in exchange for a fee we paid to their services. Is this not mean we're relying on each other all the time?"

Taylor frowned and mumbled, "That's a strange way of thinking."

"You're not the first one to said that to me." Yang smiled a little "Strange or not, can you deny that what I said isn't the truth? The truth that people often overlooked, seeing it as normal lives for so long that they no longer consider its true importance."

Taylor didn't reply, but inwardly she has wondered if Yang and Shinki were cousins, because they sure have a strange way of viewing the world, and she couldn't deny that what they said always had merits as well.

"I will try…" She found herself replied, even though she doubted that she will trust someone outside of this little clinic and the castle as quickly.

Yang sighed at the response "That's all I'll ask. Being a loner is not a pleasant experience."

It was then that the sound from the clinic downstairs reached their ears. Both stood up on reflex and made their way back down to the living room where two people just arrived as expected. Taylor froze for a second when Haku turned to look at her with those expressionless eyes, but she steeled herself and walked down to properly greeted her and Shinki before they all sit down around the table.

"I'm sorry, brother, for giving you trouble to look after this past month." The fox begins with apologizing to the old man, and Taylor thought the light was playing tricks with her when she saw that the fox looked apologetic for a second before her expressionless mask slipped on again. "She didn't give you troubles, isn't she?"

Those fox eyes drifted toward Taylor as she let the question slipped, scrutinizing her as if trying to intimidate her into confessing any sins she committed during this stay. Taylor stared back, trying to present a strong and indifferent attitude and not giving anything away, as Yang had discussed with her the other day.

"No, not at all. She's a good kid. Helping me and Mao around the clinic instead of sulking in the room or practicing fighting skills is a nice change from others. She even took up studying my medical art too."

Yang's joyous reply seems to have a strange effect on Haku, instead of being relieved that her sworn brother didn't have any difficulties in looking after what she perceived as problem, her eyebrows twitched, her fluffy nine tails stopped swaying, even her smile and neutral voice seemed forced as she responds without even looking at him "I… see…" then she quickly shifted subject and stared at Taylor "…have you packed your belongings yet?"

Taylor stiffened like a rat paralyzed by viper's gaze. She gulped silently and preparing to respond when Yang interrupted their staring contest with a cough. She and Haku turned to the old man and saw him gave her a nod. That strangely emboldened her and her answer came out before she could stop herself.

"I'm not going, Ma'am. I'm sorry, but I prefer to stay here..."

Taylor turned and apologized to Shinki sitting next to Haku. She knows that Shinki discussed it with her beforehand, but she felt it needed to be said nevertheless.

Meanwhile, a frown on Haku's lips was now more prominent, her gaze shifted to her liege immediately.

"Oh my, it seems you finally found a new pupil to help the poor Mao around aren't you Yang?"

The gaze prompted a smug response from Shinki who didn't bother to hide her smirk at all. And Taylor swore that Shinki's silver eye winked at Haku to rub it in too.

Haku immediately knew that something was up and glared at her liege with an accusing look, yet her words still as cold as ever "You're setting this up aren't you Milady!?"

A chuckle escaped Yang's lips as he answered in Shinki's stead "I support this decision though..." he then pretended to look up and down on Taylor, which made her feel uncomfortable a little "…Cities are not built in a single day after all. She should stay here learning what she likes instead of going back and forth between here and the castle."

Haku made a face like she just swallowed a lemon whole, something which Taylor never thought she would witness. It seems that the fox was expecting her to go back and live in the castle under constant watch and stupid 'guidance' from her, meekly accepted her position like the guards who came through that farce of a test before.

"Whether or not her duty includes defending the castle from intruders, the fact remains that her primary duty is not a guard." Shinki pointed out the fact without dropping her smile "Rigorous training you subjected those who came before do not apply here. Have you forgotten that Yumeko accepted training because she wanted to?"

Haku closed her eyes and slowly inhaled and exhaled her breathes several times. When she opened her eyes a moment later, they were once again clear of emotion as did her voice "I... apologize, Milady, brother. Lashing out at you is unbecoming of me."

Taylor's hatred for the fox came to grinding halt and begun to ponder what happened to Haku in the past to make her so emotionless like this. If that accusing gaze and the even, frosty voice was supposed to be her lashing out in anger, then she could understand a little bit why she didn't think twice about what she did to her.

That didn't mean she would forgive Haku though, that road still a long way.

Yang however readily forgives her lapse of self-control before resuming their talk "Regardless, since she took interest in the art of healing, it'd be prudent to go all the way and finish the study. You know that this art isn't something you can finish halfway."

"I understand, brother." Haku replied calmly, before argued "But she still has duties to fulfill, part of her contract with Milady. If she lives here, then how can that part be upheld?"

"I'm still here, Haku, no need to decide in my stead." Shinki mirthfully chided, prompting the fox to apologized before she turned to Yang and continue "And don't forget that your brother is the one in contact with Taylor throughout this month, his evaluation and judgment is not something to ignore, don't you think so Haku?"

"… As you say, Milady…"

It wasn't like Haku could respond in any other way without sounding illogical though. Not to mention, she does care for her family members and thus valued Yang's input, something that Taylor still having a hard time believing given the interactions thus far.

Suddenly, a sound of rustling cloth snapped Taylor out of her musing in time to see Shinki stood up, her silver eyes looked directly at her as she motioned her to follow her outside.

'What happened?' Taylor wasn't sure if she should voice that question out loud, but then she almost fell out of her chair as Shinki's voice rung in her mind.

'Give those two some privacy, Taylor. We wait outside.'

Taylor almost forgot the fact that they had their mind linked as part of the contract that resurrected her. Shinki never used it before out of the understanding of her experiences in her previous life and the respect of an individual. To use it now to convey a message silently, it means that she was serious about what she just told.

At least she didn't take control of her body against her will despite it was in her power to do so.

Taylor didn't have to be told twice. She stood up and excused herself out of the living room to the clinic where Shinki was standing in wait.

As she stepped past the door, an invisible force brushed past Taylor and turned the door shut with a soft click. Shinki even cast something over the doorframe for good measure.

"A sound barrier. To give them some privacy." Shinki explained as she gestured at her to sit at the table before sitting down herself.

It was a strange sight, seeing her sitting on the table like some of those rough and ill-mannered adventurers, it makes her feel approachable in Taylor's opinion.

Taylor glanced at the closed door with a worried look before turning back to Shinki as if wanting to ask something, but Shinki beats her to it "Let brother and sister talk it out, Taylor."

"If you say so, Ma'am…"

Taylor reluctantly replied. A part of her mind wishes to stay there and carry out what she had prepared, however little that was. But another part told her that intruding on the siblings would just make things worse, she wasn't confident that she could keep a calm mind required to tackle Haku yet.

"Let's talk about something else, my child." Shinki's voice chimed in, interrupting Taylor's thought. Only when Taylor turned to face a smiling goddess that she continued "I heard that you met Yuuka the other day. So, what's your impression of her?"

"How did you…"

"…know? It's not spying or clairvoyance or anything like that if you're asking." Shinki quickly preemptively answered the question "I'm familiar with Yang and Mao so I know their routine. And I also aware of Yuuka and her profession. Does that answer your question?"

Taylor nodded, the way she explained it was a bit roundabout, but she was getting used to this kind of speech by now.

"So, back to the original question if you would?"

That request reminded Taylor of what she saw with Mage Sight back at the market and shuddered, she glanced at Shinki and hesitantly asks "Are you not afraid of someone like her?"

"Afraid of what exactly my child?"

Taylor wondered if it was confidence in her godlike power that made Shinki replied as such, but Shinki questioned her before she could form a proper response "Are you going to judge people by what they possess or their lineage? Like those so-called Nazis back in your former hometown?"

Taylor winced at the comparison and apology flew out of her mouth on instinct. "I'm sorry."

Shinki shook her head "You do not have to apologize to me. If anyone deserves your apology it's Yuuka who you think ill of. But I'm sure that she will only find you amusing more than anything. She gets that look all the time after all."

Her voice was sincere and honest, that much Taylor could tell, and it relieved her worries a little.

"Are you a bit too optimistic?"

Just a little indeed. But that didn't dissuade Shinki's optimism at all as she again reminded Taylor of the talk the other day "Pessimism, while useful as it taught us to be cautious and be careful around other people, it is not about being paranoid of an irrational threat or imaginary things."

Taylor looked down at the apron on her lap and mumbled: "I'm sorry that you have to remind me of this over and over again."

Shinki stretched her hand out and patted Taylor on her shoulder while comforting her "Trauma is not something you can forget. Learn from it, but do not let it define you." she paused a little, "And as I told you, we're here for you, me, Yang, Mao, Yumeko. And even if you do not want to accept it, Haku as well, she's worried about you in her way."

"Hard to believe that she'll have any compassion for anyone." Taylor snorted before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry."

"Is this plan we're currently threading not relies on Haku's compassion? All of it will be for nothing if she's as heartless as you perceived her to be after all." Shinki reminded Taylor, causing the latter to sighed and turned her head away to look at the door leading to the backroom hoping that Yang would be all right.

Even with all that, Taylor was doubtful that she could stomach calling Haku friend in this lifetime still.

"How are your days, brother."

"The same thing, the same thing. This old man still lives a good, healthy peaceful life, dear sister."

After Shinki and Taylor left the living room and Mao went elsewhere, the nine-tailed fox woman and the old human male sat opposite of each other. Cups of tea placed in front of them were left untouched as the two unlikely sworn siblings sat down for a rare private conversation between them.

* * *

"What do you think of Taylor, brother?"

Instead of apologies for dumping responsibilities upon him, Haku forgoes it and went straight to the point.

"A nice girl haunted by her past, so traumatized that I doubt she'll get over it if you breathe down her neck every waking moment."

The blunt, cold assessment from Yang would make Taylor shocked at the sudden change in his demeanor, yet this too was another display of closeness between them, to know each other well enough to not perceive each other's blunt speech and lack of tact as slight.

"She needs to get over it or she'll never grow, brother, I just do what I think is best."

"I do not fault you for it, after all, it worked for those crybabies who once thought that the guard corps of the Pandemonium was a cushy job." Yang replied while his eyes opened a little wider "…a teenager who never saw conflict, though…"

The fox ears on top of Haku's white hair twitched at his words and responded in a voice that laced with disappointment "You're not going to teach her 'your skill'?"

Yang's lip turned into a straight line with his eyes narrowed, but instead of angry shout expected from an upset old man, he let out a sigh "Haku, I've already talked about this before, if those who were aspired to be the guardians of this town never caught my eyes, why would I teach it to a little traumatized girl who only recently finds her footing in new life?"

"Because she's…"

"She's not ready to learn it. And it's not necessary for her." Yang cut his sister off with a grim determined look on his face, signifying that this matter was non-negotiable.

Silence reigned between the siblings for minutes before Haku tried to ask her brother again, but the old man beat her to it "I believe that your intention of sending her here is to fix that girl's trauma. And I can tell you that teaching her how to fight will give you the opposite result." he paused for a moment, studying the expression, or lack thereof, on Haku's face "I'll be the judge of whether she's ready for it or not, and only if she wanted to. Not before."

"You're being unreasonable, saying as if you have time to properly heal her and then evaluate her, and then teach her after that. I know how long you take to evaluate things involving disciple in the art of combat. But you don't even hesitate when it comes to medical study."

Haku rebuked, her frustration barely escaped the lid she put on herself. But for someone who've known her for so long like Yang, that did not escape his notice, and he stared back. Two of them kept their eyes on each other for minutes before Haku averted eye contact first with a sigh "You can be stubborn some time."

"Killing should never be taken lightly, so should the skills that promote violence among civilized people." Yang said with a grunt before shaking his head "…Look around you, is this fair town in such a dire strait that it needs someone like her to fill the rank of defenders?"

"You are being short-sighted again dear brother." Haku countered, the argument has been going on for some time that some people would've lost their cool and began a shouting match by now, but Haku and Yang barely rose their voice at all.

Yang chuckled at Haku's implication "You're underselling your boys and the government council Lady Shinki formed to run this town again." he held out his hand to cut off Haku's argument "…Both of you already had contingency plans upon contingency plans to keep the Makai from being run to the ruin. I don't think we need another fighter right now."

Haku frowned but didn't respond, allowing Yang to continues "I also think that you're burdening the poor girl too much, sister. She has to work two jobs, here and the castle. And takes two lessons, learning medical skills with me, and magic lesson with Shinki by this deal. This's already pushing the limit of a person's ability to absorb knowledge. And you know that something as delicate as magic and medical study cannot be taught in half-measure."

Haku took a deep breath and released a long frustrating sigh with a hand nudging her temple "You should've said that from the start and spare us all this pointless argument."

"Sorry for this old folk for forgetting something so obvious."

The reply from Yang elicited a rare chuckle from the nine-tails fox "If you're old, then what am I? Ancient? Because I also forget about it until you mentioned it."

The mismatch siblings smiled at one another briefly, and then the serious atmosphere returned in full when Haku's smile vanished as she said in the familiar emotionless voice "All right, I won't press this issue any longer. But I'll expect you to brief Taylor on the security..." she paused "…your experiences as an assassin during the late Qing dynasty should be helpful."

Yang's eyebrow knotted at the mention of his old life, but he gave Haku a grunt of affirmation. This was a compromise, something that Haku rarely agreed on, especially when she was outplayed by her superior and the girl plotting behind her back. So, this's the best deal Taylor would get in Yang's opinion.

The two of them stood up and make for the door to tell Lady Shinki and Taylor of their agreement. While they'd like to have a small talk between siblings some more, it wouldn't do to keep their guests waiting after all.

* * *

**Author's Note:** After a while, I found out that Interlude things isn't suit for my writing style at all, so I think that last interlude may be the last.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Taylor covers her mouth as she yawned and tried to get up from a comfortable bed with the rooster's noise echoed from a chicken farm on the town's outskirts wake her from slumber. As she put on her maid uniform, her mind was reminiscing.

The cold of winter and spring has long passed and the warmth of summer begun to creep in a week prior, too fast for Taylor's taste especially when her life has been looking up for months now.

True to Shinki's and Yang's promise; Yang has provided her with lodging in his house and she could stay there on the condition of alternating between studying medical art with Yang, doing her duty in the Pandemonium castle, and studying magic under Shinki without failing any subject.

It was tedious and demanding, but Taylor wasn't going to let such hardship stop her. Even when Shinki asked if she wanted to drop the magic lesson for a while.

Taylor refused, she felt that she was getting by just fine, and didn't want to give that bloody white fox another ammunition to use on her.

Speaking of the fox, Taylor didn't know or had any idea what Haku was thinking now since she one-upped her by avoid living in the castle and subject to her daily scrutiny. She expected revenge in form of impersonating people in the castle to mess with her during work or physical confrontation as soon as she started the new routine of come and go between Yang's home and the castle once every two days.

But none of them come, which surprised her to no end given the experience in her previous life and knowledge that Haku has far better tools to mess someone up than those three bitches could have dreamed of and experiences to back it up. Not to mention being high in authority should've let her get away with it as well.

Thankfully, Yang addressed the issue a week after the new living arrangement, stopping Tarlor's paranoia and suspicion in its track;

"I persuaded my sister to trusted me to educate you on the matter of the castle security." Yang explained during the dinner "It's nothing extreme like what my sister did. It'll be just another class. I promise that it won't cut into the study time for other subjects at all."

Taylor was surprised yet again that there weren't any extra classes add to the timetable at all. Instead, life goes on normally after that conversation and Yang never brought up the subject again.

For a time, Taylor thought the old man was jesting as nothing came out of it for the time being. But two days after, when she returned from purchasing meat from Uncle Orthog the insect-butcher. Just as she was passing through the front door and greeted Yang as usual;

"So, how's Orthog's faceplate?"

The question that came out of nowhere caught her off-guarded and Taylor could only utter nonsensical words in befuddlement "Wha… hah? Mister?"

Yang's smile didn't fade as he repeated his question with slightly more elaboration "Taylor, I'm asking if Orthog's face gained a scar or changed its coloring since he never visits me for almost a month now. And on that topic, how's his antenna?"

Taylor blinked several times, clearly reeling from the questions from the old man before she finally admits defeat by shaking her head "I… didn't pay attention then."

Yang hummed at the answer. Taylor expected the old man to be upset, but there was none of that when he finally spoke up "I'd wager that you didn't talk with him more than a greeting, place an order, and say thanks and goodbye too?"

Taylor knew that the man didn't have any power, but his intuition still scared her sometimes due to how accurate his guesses were so far. With no reason to deny the truth, Taylor can only nod.

Yang seemed satisfied with the answer and promptly explained afterward like a grandfather passing down a lesson to a child "Safety and security are a lot simpler than people imagine you know? One of them is being observant of one's surroundings and people during everyday life, even some minor things like this can clue you into something profound."

Taylor couldn't help but comment back "Is it truly that simple?"

"Simple is what makes it practical, my dear." Yang replied sagely "Overcomplicating things only make it difficult for people to follow through on the given task. Make it unnecessarily complicate also means it's easier to fail as well."

When he put it like that, Taylor felt like she lost the argument already, and then the old man sealed the deal with the next sentence "Besides of knowing when your associates are being impersonated because you know him or her well or realize that something happened to them, being observant also means that you have topics to talk with them. You cannot build a friendship without interactions after all."

If Shinki was like another mother, then Yang would be comparable to a stern yet wise and caring grandfather that she never had, Taylor thought. Perhaps that's why she couldn't get angry with him for long. Despite she felt that there was something he didn't tell her, especially his past. But considered that he didn't pry hers and respect her privacy, she didn't think she has the right to pry his. That awkward moment when she learned about his wife was bad enough and she does not wish to repeat it any time soon.

His daughter was also helpful since she became a resident here. Her quirk still creeps Taylor out, but after a couple of months, she could somewhat chalk it up as a way Mao use to pump herself up for whatever task she's doing.

It also motivated Taylor too, even if she doesn't want to admit it.

Bringing her mind back to the present, Taylor made her way downstairs and straight to the kitchen, it was her turn to cook breakfast today. She looked over the stored ingredients and decided on a simple porridge with stir-fried pork and vegetable. It was a novel experience for Taylor to cook recipes not involve an instant meal, lasagna, sandwich or any type of fast food that she and her birth father seem to be fond of in the last years after her birth mother died.

The new recipes she learned so far were relatively simple however, as the studies and works take up most of the day, but Taylor hoped that she'd have more free time when she learned how to use magic to make taking care of the castle faster as Yumeko can do.

But reality rarely that merciful, as the magic lesson has become harder to learn and Taylor began to struggle, not from the lack of effort, but the lack of imagination. The warning from Shinki reared its ugly head more than Taylor would like when part of her mind struggled to accept that any given lesson was possible for a human being.

Part of her mind told her that the being like Shinki, Yuuka, and whoever created the Eastern Wonderland she heard about are way too powerful to understand how puny the Earthlings are, but that once again squashed down as it was clear that Shinki tried her best to teach Taylor no matter how bad she struggled, and Taylor shared part of the blame too when she refused to be taught by others, either by private tutor or by the local public school which has the equivalent of "Magic 101" in their curriculum.

It wasn't about the public class being bland and boring, but to Taylor, it was too soon as it reminds her of the two-years hell she experienced in such an institution that wouldn't go away so easily at this time. And Shinki understood that.

Yumeko pitched in here and there whenever the two crossed paths during her time in the castle, but her senior wasn't the best at teaching magic and her new timetable and living arrangement doesn't leave much time to converse, but the gesture was welcome nonetheless.

Seeing Yumeko taking care of the majority of the castle also reminded Taylor of the promise she made to Shinki which make her feel bad a little that she hasn't done anything worthwhile yet, no matter how many times Shinki said that it takes time to learn before she could do something like Yumeko.

A smell of fried pork brought Taylor back from her musing as the meal is ready. She cut the gas, prepared the dishes, and then put them on the tray to the table right when Yang and Mao came through the backyard door with smudges of dirt on their hands, obviously tending to their small herb garden during her cooking. After a greeting, they all sat down and enjoy the meal.

As the breakfast finished, it was also Taylor's and Mao's duty to wash the dishes before going back to work. Despite the delegates from other countries had left and with them the rather violent adventurers they hired as guards long ago, there're still injuries and illnesses that require attention from clinics all around this town.

This proved to Taylor that despite their inhuman appearance, the beings inhabiting this world are still mortals and not that much different than human saves for their anatomy and their cultures.

Fortunately for Taylor that Yang forbids her from treating any non-human and has her focus on humans first, as she admits that she was approaching the limit of what she can study simultaneously already.

As the dishes were done, the two ladies went their separate ways. Mao bids Taylor good luck and headed to the front clinic while Taylor climbed upstairs back to her room. After she closed the door, she went for the drawer and pushed it aside to reveal a white magic circle grafted on the floor aligned with glyphs and symbols she could barely discern the purpose of.

When she stepped on the center of the circle, it started glowing brightly, before a flash obscuring her vision for a moment, and then she found herself on the tower used to studied magic with Shinki during the winter months.

This was a temporary solution to Haku's gripes about her traveling to and from the castle being a security risk; a teleportation circle keyed specifically to Taylor with no way for anyone or anything to tag along for the ride.

Despite Taylor's low faith in security measures due to her direct experience from keeping her belongings away from the Three Bitches, and the many crimes she heard over the TV and internet back on Earth Bet, the measure employed still managed to impress her.

She couldn't see a way for anyone to fool a soul scanning like a fingerprint or retinal scanning, after all, each person's soul is unique and cannot replicate, even clones and the alternate version of themselves in alternate worlds/universes have unique souls, if they have one at all, right?

Taylor walked briskly down the tower to the cleaning appliances storage to start today's work. Along the way she passed a few groups of guards who greeted her, which she replied with a small nod and smile each time.

At first, it was irritating as she could not ignore them when they started calling her name by the third week after she came back to work. Not that they treated her badly like those students and school staff back in her previous life, but part of her mind still nervous about interacting with others at the time.

"Of course, they must remember you and at least call you out to check if it was you. Else they'd be a failure to let strangers wander around in the castle doing who knows what, no?"

Yang's explanation left no room for argument when she complained. She wasn't sure if she should be relieved that the guards are doing their jobs properly or should she be annoyed that they did not leave her alone for even a single day. Luckily, Shinki addressed the reason the next day;

"Each word you say, each expression you make in response to their call carried your intent and will. Some species can sense rudimentarily analyze to see if you're you. Spells that work as a lie detector also exist and they perform the same way as their technological counterpart. As for mind-reading spell, well, if it's that easy to learn and exploit, then they wouldn't bother with greeting you and get you to react to read your intent, right?"

Taylor heard of those machines sparingly during her previous life, of course. But to think that the magical equivalent was invented decades in advance was surprising for her. Hearing Shinki pre-empted her worries lifted a lot of paranoias out of her mind too.

Taylor's musing was cut short and her walk slowed to a stop when her sight laid upon the person walking down from the opposite end of the corridor, the person that, despite months have passed without incidents and assurance from Yang, still instilling dread and anxiety in her heart without fail.

Haku's blue eyes twitched slightly at the sight of Taylor, and then her pace quickened as she approached the girl who rooted to the spot by her stare.

Only when Haku was right in her face that Taylor reacted by greeting her out of reflex with no small amount of discomfort, anger, and disdain laced in her voice before she could control herself. And then she panicked with her action finally registered that she just maybe gave that fox a real opening to kick her out for real!

Haku, however, only stared at Taylor with an unreadable expression on her face for a moment, before she speaks up "Lady Shinki requires your presence at her office. Please follow me."

Taylor's suspicion took over right there, her eyes narrowed while planting her feet down and demanded answers from Haku "What's the matter regarding me?"

If Haku was incensed by her disobedience she didn't show it, her answer still came out in a neutral matter-of-fact tone as usual "The official from Ministry of Right and Wrong has arrived and requested your presence regarding your transmigration status."

It took Taylor a couple of seconds for the words to sink in before blood drained from her face "You mean… people from the Afterlife?"

"The Judge of the Dead, yes." Haku answered, and then she elaborated like it was an afterthought "You're not in trouble, that much is certain."

For some reason, that explanation only increased Taylor's worries instead of calming her down.

"You should follow me to Shinki's office now, they are waiting."

Once she finished, Taylor followed Haku down the corridor toward Shinki's office. While she still harbored suspicion and paranoia of the fox woman, she still trusted Shinki's words enough that the fox was loyal enough to not use her name to cause her troubles.

As they reached the door behind the Council chamber, Haku turned to face Taylor once more before they could get into the room.

"I'll have to warn you; the Judge of the Afterlife is impartial toward worldly affair, their duty demanded such, so while they will not hate you, it'd do you well to not to expect any favor from them, nor did try to curry it. For in many cultures and beliefs viewed it as a grave sin, so the Judge will regard your action accordingly."

Taylor nodded. Although she was confident that she didn't sin as much during her short life, her resurrection by Shinki could still be seen as disrupting the natural cycle of life and death, hence she doubted that the governor of the afterlife will like her.

'Wait, isn't there a lot of religions out there? How can these Judges reach suitable verdicts for everyone then?'

Haku didn't seem to notice Taylor's inner thought as she knocked lightly on the door. A voice rang out from behind it "They seem to have arrived. Come in!"

Taylor expected an imposing, muscular devil-like humanoid with red skin and horn holding a wicked-looking scythe, something along the line of the description of Satan in the Bible, that or skeleton dressed in black robe wielding scythe as long as it's tall. Instead, she was dumbfounded when she saw only a small woman standing next to Shinki's desk. Her dark blue-black and white dress with white sleeves, knee-length black skirt, black shoes, and matching blue and white hat probably wouldn't look out of place in a modern society if she discounted the assortment of decorations on her clothing like those frills, gold emblem, or ribbons. But the most distinct feature in Taylor's eyes was the short, dark green hair that seems unnaturally fit with the woman.

'Is this slip of a girl supposed to be the Judge of the Afterlife?'

Shinki who was sitting behind the desk ushered everyone to take a seat next to her desk the moment Taylor entered, all except for Haku who opted to remain outside the office by an excuse of "Have no right to intrude on the personal matter." which Taylor wasn't sure whether to call bluff on the fox or thankful that she has manner for once.

As the door clicked shut, the green-haired woman frowned at the closed door but didn't say anything while Shinki hid her smile with her hand as if Haku's action was funny to her. However, Taylor didn't dare to ask that in front of a woman who governs the afterlife, as far as she knows.

The supposed Judge of the Afterlife shook her head lightly before turning all her attention to Taylor. "So, this's the soul you mentioned about, Shinki." The woman murmured, and then summoned a plain hand mirror which captured the reflection of Taylor in it briefly before she turned it around to look at herself "Indeed, the date and time of her deeds matched with what you described to me."

As if she noticed Taylor's confusion, the woman explained her action to Taylor while showing her the mirror "This's the tool that all Yama - Judge of the Afterlife – use to see a soul's deeds throughout their life, whether it's private or public, good or evil." and then she paused slightly "Ah, apologies, I'm one of the Judge of the Afterlife, name is Eiki, a pleasure to meet you, Taylor Hebert."

Taylor however, was focused on the explanation instead of the greeting offered by the Yama, and she was quite incensed about it "You spy on people?"

"No." Was the reply from the Yama, who quickly elaborated further "We are given a 'tool' to see the present and the past deeds of a deceased soul. We cannot reach a fair verdict without knowing exactly what transpired in one's life after all." and then she added "Your circumstance fit, hence the Mirror can view yours up until the day you're adopted by Shinki, which validate her claim of your origin."

One on hand, Taylor wanted to get angry at the woman for her nonchalant and inconsiderate reply and invasion of privacy. But on the other hand, the mythologies she once read with her birth mother painted most of the Judges or Rulers of the Afterlife as impartial entity that never play favorite with anyone except perhaps the hero of the story, who were inevitably a spawn of gods or some such, and then not without doing them a huge favor befitting of the request beforehand. In her eyes, Taylor felt that she's not that special, discount being an illegal immigrant from the other universe/world, which probably be seen as a bad kind of special by the Judge instead.

Taylor by this point didn't doubt the petite woman's claim of being the Judge of the Afterlife like she was during the first few months of rebirth anymore; After many things she experienced, she doubted that Shinki would try to lie to her for no conceivable gain now.

Eiki's feature looked softened a bit as if noticing Taylor's thought, as she spoke in a softer tone instead of the nonchalant one earlier "Your circumstance which landed you here was not of your fault. I can speak for the other Judges that they will find that you're not in the wrong in this regard."

She paused for a moment and continued "Also, you're hardly the first one in this predicament in the infinite multiverses out there."

Taylor let out a sigh she didn't notice she was holding, before she quickly apologized for unsightly display, to which the Judge simply waved it off as inconsequential. That piqued Taylor's curiosity, but she held it back, determined not to make a fool of herself again.

However, it was Shinki who struck a conversation instead "So, my child, I thought that you'd have a lot of questions to ask? Not many people can get to see the Judge of the Afterlife or Grim Reaper while they're still alive and live to tell the tale afterward you know?"

She was stroking Taylor's curiosity, but she has to admits that it was succeeding. And soon enough her curiosity won and she asked the patiently waiting Judge "How do you pass verdict for people of different cultures? Are there not those deeds that one viewed as sin while others do not?"

The Judge's blue eyes widened slightly before her lips tugged upward a little "You're indeed interesting. Most mortals' question always be 'Where do I go when I died?' 'Am I going to heaven or hell?' 'What awaits us in the afterlife'… Rarely do they ask what you asked… hmm…"

Eiki pondered for a few minutes before answering "This's difficult to explain indeed. While the easiest explanation would be that our position as a Judge comes with the power that instantly categorizes every deed into good and evil, I doubt that will suffice."

She didn't wait for Taylor's response before continuing "Many factors affecting our decision and verdicts given to any person actually, from their cultures, beliefs, natures, and common sense of those cultures. And then you have to consider the common morality of sapient species coexisting within one region or worlds as well."

"How can nature have anything to do with sins and punishment?" Taylor questioned.

"If the sapient species diet consisted of only meat from other sapient species with no alternative, can you fault them for hunting and killing the other for their survival?" Eiki asked, which gave Taylor a pause "Not just species' nature that affecting their morals, the nature of the world they live in also plays a part in their perception of what considered sins and justice as well. And we have to sort them out appropriately when they move on in the cycle of life and death."

"What she's saying is that something that you considered evil acts may not consider evil in the eye of the Judge of the Afterlife depending on the circumstances." Shinki elaborated "While many religions and beliefs see the law of celestial as strict and unbending, it's only because they do not take different sapient species that coexist with them into account, or never had one at all, like your Earth Bet for example."

Taylor nodded, with Shinki's explanation she could see where the Judge was coming from; it wouldn't be fair or just otherwise.

After a moment, she looked at Eiki and said "I'm… surprised that you explained things. I thought that someone of your occupation will keep it secret to not… I don't know… disrupting the cycle of life and death, or something?"

"The rule dictated that I cannot tell you if you or your tormentors and murderers in your previous life will go to hell or not if you're wondering about it." Eiki casually replied, "But there's nothing prevent me from interacting with mortals and try guiding them."

Taylor looked at the judge incredulously "I find it hard to believe that you have time to do this."

"The 'me' that's talking to you now is just a form of projection if I'm using words from your world." Eiki replied, "I'm still doing my duty in the Afterlife even as we speak here." Eiki stated as the mirror in her hand fade away from view "Else how can we oversee the trial and judgment of millions of souls coming down to the Afterlife every day from a single planet?"

"I see…"

"Though Eiki here has a somewhat easier time as she only oversees souls from a single pocket dimension with a population in the range of... thousands I suppose?"

Shinki suddenly spoke up but then tapered off as she asked the judge for confirmation, which Eiki nodded and added "I'm not exactly that free as you implied, with the ongoing war in the human world and the aftermaths of the so-called World War Two not a decade ago still trickling in, I've to pitch in and help other Judges in charge of the Earth as well." then she leveled a glare at Shinki "And your Makai as well."

Taylor briefly wondered if the Judges of Afterlife has their limit on splitting themselves considered that someone in charge of normal Earth in this universe seems to need help from the Judges in charge of other worlds to sort out the death of the human in the wake of World War Two and the Korean War like this.

But then, the Judge stood up and addressed both Shinki and Taylor calmly "Well, all that I wanted to discuss with both of you are done. I think I will have to take my leave now. I have duties to attend."

The statement practically answered Taylor's unasked question. It seems that doing this exhaust the Judge too.

However, as Eiki was about to leave, she then turned to look at Taylor then gave her parting words "Before I leave, l hope, for your sake, that you will understand that there're many good deeds that don't involve violence for you to pursue out there. I hated to see you in hell in a literal sense when the time comes."

And then Eiki faded away in a mote of light before Taylor could demand what she meant by that.

The office fell into silence once more as Taylor was lost in thought until Shinki broke the silence first "So, what's your thought about the Judge who sentences the decreased to Heaven or Hell?"

After a moment of avoiding eye contact with Shinki, Taylor gathered her courage to looked up and replied "She's not what I'm expecting. Just finding time to speak with a normal mortal like me is surprising enough already."

"It's because the 'Eiki' wasn't 'on duty' when she's speaking with you." Shinki replied sagely "Like everyone, she has multiple facades. When she's on the mortal world, she's wearing the mask of teacher, not the mask of Judge, and teacher must guide others onto the right path."

"Isn't that a conflict of interest?"

"What interest?"

Shinki asked back, which put a furrow on Taylor's brows as she struggled for an answer. And after a while, she offered lamely "She wants to lessen her workload then?"

At the sight of Shinki's raised eyebrows questioningly, Taylor quickly elaborates "I mean, she has to split herself into multiple avatars to handle more dead people, isn't she? With me…"

"The Judge of the Afterlife's duty is to decide where the dead should be sent in the cycle of life and death." Shinki interrupted Taylor's explanation "The dead, whether they're good or evil, doesn't matter, they have to pass through the trial regardless. Also, she wasn't exhausted because of multitasking Taylor, she just used it as an excuse to leave because she's taking our time."

Taylor opened her mount and then shut, didn't know what to say, letting Shinki continued "While she has to stay impartial during the trial, it doesn't mean that she likes sending people to Hell. That's why she tries to warn you or anyone she came across in the mortal worlds to not committing something they'll regret later."

The surprised look on Taylor's face hasn't fully formed yet when Shinki spoke up again "But that's only Eiki's though. Other Judges wouldn't care about trying to get people to become a good person. She's an exception, probably because she's normally in charge of the Eastern Wonderland."

That information reminded Taylor of the question she never got the chance to ask, and it seems that she must have made a face because Shinki was staring at her from across her desk in anticipation of something, probably waiting for her to start a conversation, or rather, questions.

After a few breathes, Taylor decided that the Judge's words regarding her thought about a certain subject were more important, thus the question became "Why did she oppose my dream of being a hero? I know that Eiki wanted to prevent people from going to Hell, but why this subject in particular?"

Shinki closed her eyes, briefly considering what to say, before looking at Taylor and replied "From her perspective, it is easy to solve everything with violence, which for your birthplace - the Earth Bet – it's the usual definition of 'Hero', and it is what influences your idea and dream regarding that words. But as it is easy to choose this path, it's also tempting. As time goes by, there will be a point where you'll resort to this option as soon as you are able, and that's when Hero stops being the hero."

Taylor frowned, feeling mutinous and wanted to argue, but Shinki held out her hand to stop her first, to let her continue without interruption "Eiki has seen more than a fair share of Heroes who she has to personally sentenced to Hell despite the deeds they had done to the world precisely because of this slippery slope. She warned you to not repeat their mistake, not to dissuade you from becoming one. After all, people choose their destiny and the Judges of Afterlife always respect that rule without exception."

Silence reigned as Taylor slowly processing Shinki's words. Part of her wanted to believe that this wasn't real, Shinki just conspired with Eiki the conman trying to deceive her and destroy her childhood dream. But deep down her gut feeling told her that Eiki was a genuine Judge of the Afterlife and what she said was true.

"It sounds like even the Afterlife are bent on wanting heroes to disappear." She sounded dejected when she finally spoke up, but Taylor didn't have a mind to care, she has to vent her frustration somehow.

"Hero who gains fame through violence, not all types of heroes." Shinki chided lightly without a trace of anger or disappointment, patiently explained to the fuming girl "And must I remind you that Eiki never said anything about stopping you from being that kind of heroes too, she only warned you to not blind to other solutions to any problems."

It took another moment for Taylor to let the words sink in. Her rash teenager mind that ready to latched on any slight against her belief and dream grind to a halt, her simmering temper slowly disappeared, yet her voice still sounds dejected "… I see."

Shinki smiled at the sight before she walked over to Taylor and gently touched her shoulder, trying to comfort her "While I have a distaste to heroism through violence, be assured that I will not object anyone's choice in life, so long as they know and accept responsibility for their actions. You are not the exception to this, my child."

The image of a clergyman who lost his hand to the overzealous adventurers and multitude of victims who came to Yang's clinic during the early spring flashed before Taylor's mind instantly. But her rebellious thought still smoldering and it tried to find purchase one last time "I won't fall to that, Ma'am."

Her words didn't impress Shinki at all, but neither did it disappoint her, she shook her head and turned to look at the sky outside of the windows, her back facing Taylor before answers "The phrase 'the future never set in stone' applies to people too."

She turned back and saw a disturbed look on Taylor's face which elicited a gentle smile at the sight "But think of it positively; not many mortals get a warning from Celestial, let alone Judge of the Afterlife, that they'll go to Hell if they do not behave, no?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Taylor hesitated a bit, and then "…I guess it's as you say."

She wanted to speak more, but a dry cough escaped her lips which she hurriedly apologized.

Shinki waved it off like always "Oh my, we've been talking for quite some time weren't we?" she then looked at Taylor with a motherly smile "Would you be a dear and go brew something for me? Getting yourself a drink to quench your thirst too. No need to hurry though, after such a conversation, I think it'd be best for you to have some alone time to think."

Taylor took that as a sign to leave. She stood up, bowed slightly and made for the door. But when she opened it and saw that Haku was nowhere to be found, a thought struck her and she turned around to Shinki who tilted her head slightly in question at her action.

"…"

The two met each other's gazes before Shinki smiled knowingly without Taylor speaking any word, but for some reason, there was a hint of sadness in that smile too.

"Haku is never a fan of getting lectured by Eiki. Her past still lived through the Judge of the Afterlife after all this time."

It didn't take long for Taylor to deciphered Shinki's cryptic reply that the Judge learned of Haku's past through someone she knew who died, and thus take it upon herself to try and redeem the white fox woman from falling down the dark path.

But still…

"I doubt that she listened to her."

Sarcastic remark escaped Taylor's mouth before she could stop it.

Shinki giggled a bit before replies "Well, after getting lectured on the same topic for so many times over the years, will you not bored and want to get away?"

Taylor couldn't help but giggle at the image of the petite woman chasing Haku who was more than a head taller than her around the castle like a kid running away from a teacher or parent. It was quite comical, but she doubts she will get the chance to see it happen.

After minutes has passed, and with a smile on her lips, Taylor asked Shinki in a slightly happier tone "So, Ma'am, any special blend you want in your tea?"

Shinki returned the smile as she waved her hand toward the door and verbally jabbed her light-heartedly "Anything is fine, but it's been five minutes already you know. Will I have to wait for another hour to get my tea?"

"No, Ma'am, I'm going to fetch it at once."

As the door quietly shut and the echoes of footsteps quieted down, Shinki felt her worries eased up a little when thinking to that earlier display. She mentally thanked Eiki for showing up and went back to work.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Now this finally catch up with the Spacebattles version of the story, from this point forward it won't lag behind the SB version.

Criticism is welcome as always, but do try to be polite about it.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13  
**

Sweat dripped from Taylor's scrunched up forehead despite the heat of the summer has gone away since the first rain a week earlier. She wished that she could just pull her hand up and wipe the irritating droplet away and be done with it. But her wish was denied by the simple fact that moving her hand right now will ruin the delicate work she was trying to do and waste dozens of minutes of effort she put into it.

Sure, she has telekinesis magic, but she wasn't confident in using it simultaneously with a stressful work like this yet.

She gulped as her eyes roamed over the middle-aged man lying down on the floor next to her; her hand slightly trembles as she was reminded herself of the lesson with Yang.

'It's the spot described in the book, Yang even demonstrated to her how to do it once, this should be fine and nothing bad is going to happen. Come on, Taylor, just plunge it in gently...'

Ignoring the pitter-patter sound of rain impacting the roof above, Taylor steeled herself and carefully applying pressure to an acupuncture needle between her fingers until it pierced a man's skin near his ankle. The man didn't seem to notice judging by his eyes that still shut as if he was sleeping. But Taylor's pessimism believed that it was because he was scared that she will screw up and put his life in jeopardy at any moment. And the worst part was that she couldn't blame him for thinking such due to her being a newbie, not the professional he was expecting when he asked for Yang to came over.

Perhaps her looking at him with eyes softly glowing as the sign of Mage Sight also played a part.

Not even Yang's explanation that Taylor was under his tutelage could take away that anxiety.

After a careful inspection that the needle the size of her index finger won't fall off from the man, she let the needle go before turning to the old man sitting cross-legged next to her as if asking for his opinions, or rather, his approval of her work.

Yang chuckled at the sight before he calmly replied "Excellent work, Taylor." And then he turned to address the patient who let out a sigh of relief at Yang's comment "Please make yourself comfortable and rest, George. I'll remove the needle when it's done."

The patient named George mumbled a thank you while his eyes still closed and visibly relaxed, while Taylor closed off her magical sight, wiped the sweat off her forehead before sitting patiently by his side with Yang as they silently observed the patient who suffered from muscle pain due to overworking in the field for weeks, or so they were told. But since the symptom matched the cause and there was no other complication that Yang could see, there was no reason to ask further.

It was fifteen minutes before Yang ordered Taylor to pull the needle out gently. After that, he handed the man a pot of medicine with an instruction paper attached to it while also verbally instructed him. The man asked Yang about the payment, but the old man waved it off by stating that he can pay after the treatment is done.

"We'll have to come back here to check on you the next week after all."

With that, they collected their belongings and left the premise for Yang's home with no incident...

"Stressful isn't it?"

Then a question came out of nowhere, causing Taylor to look at the old man walking beside her under the aegis of an umbrella she was holding on their way home. After a moment of listening to the rain impacting stone tiles and roofs around them, she turned her eyes away to watch the road ahead and replied; "It is something else when you're the one doing it instead of just watching… I… don't know how to describe it…"

"Fear…" Yang cut her reply short causing her to turned back and saw the old man who sports a knowing look on his face "…fear that you're holding an innocent's life and future in your hands where a single mistake means suffering or worse while knowing in your heart that it is your responsibility that cannot be shifted to other, right?"

"When you put it like that… yeah… I'm glad that it's over without any incidents..." Taylor replied with a degree of anxiety as her mind wondered how Yang would think of her fear and hesitation.

"I'd be more worried should you not feel any of those when treating people by yourself for the first few times."

Of course, she couldn't hide a thing from the old man anyway. But that statement perplexed her.

"Why so? Shouldn't be confident in what you're doing a desirable quality?"

The old man regarded her query with a nod as he started walking once more, forcing her to follow lest he gets wet on the way home "There's confidence in one's skills and there's overconfident. The former is for those who already experienced and know what they're doing. The latter, however, are greenhorns who haven't graduated or someone with little experiences of the world but acted as if they are the best, and it's worrying because it'll get people in danger, not just themselves."

Taylor couldn't refute the implication that she was a greenhorn, even her most mutinous thought paused in its track when seeing Yang's half-squint eyes staring at her without blinking, reminding her of the conversation they had yesterday when he asked her to come here with him.

'There's no shame in admitting one's incapability, those who in over their head not only put themselves in danger but others as well.'

The discontent must be showing on her face as Yang tried to cheer her up in the next sentence "Don't make that gloomy face, I've told you that you've done an excellent job back there, remember?"

Taylor's face turned a slight shade of pink instantly as she felt her achievement was undeserving, and her response was predictable; "Actually it was because of yours and Mao's teaching, I cannot take all the credits for that."

Yang chuckled "It's not wrong to feel pride in what you achieved. It's the nature of people. Me. You. Everyone else. The only problem is letting your achievement get into your head and become complacent or arrogant know-it-all jerks."

It was the first time Yang used a strong language in her presence, which surprised Taylor a little. But then he reverted to the good-hearted old man in the next sentence.

"Still, if you insisted on passing credits to us, why not Lady Shinki too? Don't you think I can't see you abuse her teaching during the earlier treatment."

Taylor chuckled nervously at the light jab. Her mood lightened as they quickened their paces back to Yang's home. It wouldn't do to stay under the rain for long after all.

* * *

This routine continued for the entire month, where Yang will take Taylor out to cure patients in the town, let her diagnose, and apply her acupuncture knowledge under Yang's supervision. Taylor's confidence in her skills slowly improved with every successive case, especially when she could cure the patients on her own without Yang calling out on her wrong diagnosis or acupuncture method.

Everything seems fine, but Taylor couldn't help but feel that the old man Yang has been looking at her with unreadable expression whenever she applied her magical prowess on the treatment process, specifically Mage Sight and telekinesis to helps steady the needles. But he didn't comment on her works except preventing her from making a mistake. And stopped her from trying to simultaneously puncture multiple spots, citing that acupuncture has to be done in sequence as the treatment was initially designed by and for a normal human, who obviously can apply one needle at a time.

Taylor obeyed his instructions without complaints as even her most rebellious thought wouldn't dare gamble with the life of people, especially after she saw Yang fixed a son of a traveling merchant who has the bad luck of receiving treatment from a random acupuncturist from the other city. Let just say that the boy's developing obesity slowly over the trip to Pandemonium was the least the merchant had to worry about, had he showed up at the clinic a day later, his lineage would be forever lost.

On the last day of the month, they returned from the patient's house as usual. Once they were protected from rain in the warm living room of their abode, Taylor immediately made her way to the kitchen to prepare tea for the old man, while leaving the wet umbrella at the front of his clinic to keep his daughter who was working there a company, or so the daughter said as a greeting when they arrived.

Neither Taylor nor Mao takes it seriously, it was just that the girl was bored looking after the clinic with nothing exciting happen which Taylor heard too many times to count by now.

After the tea was served, Taylor about to join with Mao at the front of the clinic when Yang suddenly asked her with a thoughtful look on his face "Haven't you thought that it's strange that skills and arts for helping people can be equally lethal if uses in the wrong ways?"

Taylor's stopped in her steps and turned back, looking at Yang with confused expression momentarily before her mind caught up and nodded quietly.

Yang for his part didn't seem to mind her reaction, he turned back to the tea on the table, crossed his arm and muttered while staring at the steaming liquid in his cup "The reverse also true as well."

The remorse in his tone wasn't lost on Taylor, and while part of her wanted to clamp down her curiosity and excuse herself from the premise as this seems personal to the old man for a reason she couldn't fathom, but another part of her was curious of what this topic would lead to if they continue the conversation.

As her mind was warring, it was Yang who put a stop to her thought with a sigh, as if he just made a hard choice of something "I think you should sit first if you still want to hear the tales from this old man. And bring yourselves a cup of tea too should you still wish to listen to this old man's rambling."

Taylor looked between Yang and the door leading to the clinic front, and then she shook her head "I… I'll go and help Mao…"

"I insist." Yang shot her down quickly and explains "I initially do not want to disclose this to you, but after what I saw you did today, I think it'd be better to tell you now rather than later."

From the tone he used, Taylor's instinct told her that whatever it is he wanted to discuss, it was serious in his perspective, and as she was living with his family at this point, it'd be rude to ignore him, or so she rationalized it. Thus, she did as he asked, poured herself a cup of tea and seated on the opposite end of the table.

Yang didn't waste time and begins as soon as she hit the seat "Do you know that the acupuncture arts I learned and passing down to you and Mao are originally the art of murder?"

Taylor understood the implication almost instantly, but she was already suspected that Yang might have a shady past for a while so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

If it was the previous 'her', Taylor would've been disillusioned at such confession, heedless of the fact that it probably happened so long ago before she was even born, and the prejudices would sever her relationship with Yang and his daughter forever just like those Winslow's staffs as she perceived it as a betrayal of her trust.

Thankfully, months of living with supportive adults and friends of her age like Mao did wonder to her psyche; while she was still apprehensive toward strangers coming to receive a cure in this clinic or when going out to see patients, it was not an outright distrustful anymore, mostly.

After hesitating a bit, she answered to the waiting old man "Is it something in your younger days?"

In her previous life, Taylor wasn't close to her grandparents, a side effect of whatever fraud her parents had with them that led to their distance. That means they never see each other face to face as far as Taylor could remember and hence lacking experience in dealing with old people. Thus, she wasn't sure if she'd upset Yang or not.

The waiting wasn't long before Yang replied "Yes. It was when I'm an idealistic young man dreaming of being the hero who saves his nation from the tyrant."

"The Qing Dynasty?"

Taylor was sure that has her birth mother was still alive she'd be ecstatic to meet Yang or anyone who once lived during such historical events recounting it.

Yang didn't know what Taylor was thinking and continued his tales "My family was an inheritor of an assassination technique, passed down through generations in the faraway town of no notoriety. We saw the humiliations suffered at the hands of Westerners. We were angry and frustrated at the unequal treaty. Carving up our beloved land piece by piece and exploits its people, its resources, as they did to other continents. But even that couldn't compare to hatred of our rulers whose incompetency led to this predicament…"

"…" Taylor listened with rapt attention, seemingly absorbed into the tales despite this was but a prelude to what was to come. She didn't know much about the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Education in her homeland on Earth Bet seemingly ignores the old history entirely. Or maybe it was because she got a bad history teacher, or the curriculum would rather focus on the recent celebrities that were Parahumans instead of the boring bygone era that offer nothing useful, hell if she knows.

"Instead of learning a lesson, they cracked down hard on those who spoke out against them. They are but a parasite to their loyal citizens instead of protector and leader of the people." Yang recounted his experiences with no small amount of distaste in his voice.

Taylor wondered briefly if he was exaggerating, but she couldn't comment upon. While she couldn't imagine the hardship of the time when the modern luxuries she enjoyed in her previous life did not exist she could relate somewhat about incompetent and corrupted authority thanks to her first-hand experience.

"So, you joined the revolution army?" Taylor asked despite all but knowing the answer from what Yang told her up to now.

"More like a local resistance cell." Yang clarified "The Qing Dynasty controlled a large swath of land during its days. As large as the United States if not more."

"I see…"

"Since the government saw us all as dissents that must be eliminated, we retaliated. And when the leader wanted some local official dead, they asked me to do it." Yang continued to recount his youth's adventures "…it's not just governors, the corrupted and prejudiced police, anyone affiliated or supporting the government also a target."

Taylor still wasn't sure how this's going to be relevant, but when Yang continued his tales, it became apparent; "At first, it's limited to those proven guilty of the crimes. But as time goes and the civil war began, it gradually shifted to everyone remotely connected to the Dynasty."

Yang stared at Taylor in the eyes as he spoke in a tired voice "And when the central government could no longer control the country, the local resistance I was part of turned into a reign of warlord carving pieces of land for themselves, under the guise of the revolutionary army."

He sighed "I carried on serving the leader of my community for a while, perhaps it's because I wanted to believe that I'm still contributing to the betterment of my countrymen, or perhaps I afraid that all the murders will be in vain had I not keep going."

Taylor gave the old man a questioning look, her experience with him didn't paint him as the ruthless killer he was saying him to be at all, and that made her wonder what made him realized his wrongdoing and turned his art of murder into the art of saving lives today.

Yang seems to read her mind with his decades of experiences, as his tales answered her unasked question "It came to a head when one day when the order I carry out resulted in a conflagration that reduced another so-called 'enemy of the people' base to ash." He let out a snort of disdain at this point, to which it directed to was Taylor's guess "…guess what I found in there?"

His remorseful voice and the narrative were enough for Taylor to realize what awaits there before he said it a moment later "Children corpses. All burned. None survive."

Silence fell upon them as Taylor didn't know how to respond, while Yang kept looking down on the table, not focusing on anything and seemingly lost in thought. It would be many minutes before he finally collected himself enough to resume talking;

"It was for the good of the people, they said. But that word awoke me to the reality, that the heroes of the people that my leader once was, is no more."

Yang looked at Taylor again, and the girl uncomfortably asked after warily looked at the door to the front of the clinic as if to check if Mao was eavesdropping "Why are you telling me this?"

"…"

The old man contemplating his response for a moment, before finally settled with a question "Taylor, tell me, what is the purpose of education?"

"To… to give us the knowledge required for the job we will do once we graduated?"

Faced with the sudden question, she said the first thing that came to mind out before she could have thought it over.

However, Yang didn't reprimand her for the answer, instead, he nodded and said "A textbook answer for a modern society. It's not wrong." he quickly noted when he saw Taylor's expression "But education's true purpose is to relay the experiences from the old generation to the new, their knowledge, and most importantly, their mistakes. So that the younger generation does not waste their limited lifespan repeating the same thing as the older one. Especially things they will regret."

Taylor couldn't say she disagrees with this. And although she could guess now what Yang was aiming for and she sympathized with his reason, she couldn't see what triggered him to give her this talk just now despite content to let her learned his arts without much objection for so long.

Again, she didn't have to wait long as Yang asked; "You're probably wondering why am I bringing this up, correct?"

"Y… yea… kind of…"

Yang took Taylor's stutter as a 'yes' and continued "I saw what you did in the week, and I'm impressed with your ingenuity, and worried, Taylor, that you'll discover this darker side of the art I taught you and goes out to do something reckless."

Now it was Taylor's turn to realized something "You're speaking about my old dream to go out and fight crimes and injustice." as Yang nodded in response, Taylor asked further "I mean, sure I still desire it somewhat, but I don't think it's needed right now. I mean…" she paused and searched for words "…it's peaceful, everyone wants peace after all."

It was a season since this topic was brought up, and in that time the peaceful environment of this town has done wonder to curbed her inner childhood fantasy. And even if it didn't, she wouldn't wish for the villains to show up and begin terrorizing people so she could play Hero.

She's not that craving, after all.

Yang nodded "I don't doubt you on that, Taylor." but then he said "…I'm sorry to have you listen to this old man, but I cannot help but feel that the look in your eyes is like me when I was young, and so feel that I should warn you."

Taylor couldn't fault him; even she could see the value of not repeating the mistakes of the old generations, especially when Yang pointed it out earlier.

Seeing no response from Taylor, Yang continued "And future is uncertain. Maybe we live the rest of our lives without violence, maybe there's a violent conflict between nations which Lady Shinki had no choice but to send her handmaiden to handle them before it gets out of hand. Maybe there's a monster rampage. Regardless, I wouldn't discount the possibility of you having to use the art I taught for the violent purpose out of hand if only to protect yourself and others."

It was prudent of him, Taylor thought, but it also piqued her interest in the so-called monsters that roam this world too despite never think about it before.

Noticing Yang's expectant look, Taylor responded neutrally "Thank you for the warning."

The old man chuckled, the tense atmosphere evaporated practically instantly as he returned to the joyous mood as if the conversation earlier didn't happen "Well, I think you're free for today. Think of it as an apology for forcing you to sit down and hear this old man's tales for this long." then his eyebrow wiggled a little "Though if you want to help Mao outside, then I won't mind either."

A small smile graced Taylor's lips as she stood up and did just as Yang suggested, there wasn't anything on her agenda for the day after all.

* * *

"Ma'am, can I ask you something?"

Once it was night time, Taylor was back to the Pandemonium castle to study magic under the goddess of Makai as usual. After a season passed, she feels that her magical progress wasn't as quick as she would like, but she endured nonetheless knowing that she was late to the study compared to others in this world whose lessons begin as soon as they reached nine years old.

Shinki turned away from watching the swirling red, green, and blue flame which Taylor conjured and looked at her raven-haired maid curiously. After all, she has told her that she does not need permission to ask anything. "Sure, I told you many times before, hadn't I? Go ahead."

Taylor took a breath, careful not to let the barrier spell slip and dunked herself with the rainfall that continued from the daytime into the night, and collected herself before asking "Why did you create monsters to inhabited Makai? Aren't they causing death and misery to people here contradicting what you wished to achieve?"

Instead of frowning or averting eye contact as one might expect from a guilty party, Shinki adopted a thoughtful expression and silent for at least a minute before answering "Where does life come from, Taylor? I mean the first living being in any universe."

Without waiting for Taylor's reply, the white-haired goddess continued "You wouldn't find that answer from me, for I do not have one either. And the same could be said about monsters populating the wilderness of Makai, for I do not create them."

Despite Shinki once told her that she wasn't omnipotent despite having the power to create life, the answer still came as a surprise to Taylor, that the dancing magical ball of lights fizzled and disintegrated due to her concentration slipped. Thankfully the barrier still on preventing her from soaking wet with the rain.

While Shinki was aware of Taylor's mistake in practicing her magic, she let it slide for now "You're surprised that I should've known about it." It wasn't a question as she didn't wait for a response before carrying on with the explanation; "The interesting thing is that I initially populated the Makai with plants, wildlife, and initial sapient to start a civilization with. As time passed, however, monsters began to emerge from the wilderness attacking everything that's not of their species. This's a recurring theme in other newly formed worlds in other universes as well."

"But Earth Bet never have something like that."

Taylor argued, which Shinki nodded in agreement. But before she continued the discussion, Shinki walked up to and sat on the parapet at the edge of the tower they were on after she dried the surface of rain. Then she motioned Taylor to sit down next to her.

Only when they were properly seated that Shinki finally replies "What I'm going to say is just a theory, but I believe that the presence of magic in a certain concentration may have a hand in such phenomena."

It took Taylor a moment before she pieced the knowledge she learned together, a realization dawned on her face as she asked for confirmation "Is it related to the 'energy react to desire and imagination of sentient species'?"

"Remember that it's just the most likely hypothesis, not a proven fact." Shinki reminded her "After all, beasts and creatures of all kind still appear and evolve even on your Earth Bet since the beginning of time had it not? Although these sentient non-sapient creatures lacked the fantastical features you'd find in a mana-rich environment, there's no guarantee that they will not evolve to such capabilities in the millennia to comes."

"You speak as if you've witnessed one yourself." Taylor remarked while she started conjuring her magic to start practicing again while still holding a conversation with her mistress "That means you're millions of years old?"

Shinki only smiled mysteriously at the remark, neither confirm nor deny it. And that was enough cue for Taylor to dropped the subject by getting back on track with a cough "So, to recap; the hypothesis is that magic acted as a catalyst of evolution since they kind of respond to the desire of sentient beings, they kind of turned non-sapient, who only has instincts and basic desires like getting bigger or meaner, into fantastical monsters?"

"Magic is also natural energy in every universe out there, my child." Shinki corrected her with a smile, "Just that they're not as abundant in some universes, and for some reason, creatures in some universes also cannot interact with it in any meaningful way. Just look at the meat you regularly bought from Orthog for my castle, Taylor. The meat he sells came from livestock originally brought here by the immigrants from land bereft of magic, and this livestock stayed the same even after many generations with no sign of fantastical evolution at all."

'The ability to perceive and process magic by the livings is also a factor.' was what she was saying, Taylor thought and agreed silently.

But then she thought of another argument, from one of the lessons in magic she learned from her "But certainly there's a way to seal magic, isn't it? Like the punishment enact on the criminal magic users across this world and beyond?"

At that question, Shinki's smile turned sad as she sighed, which Taylor took it as a sign of something she didn't want to talk about and hence quickly apologized. But Shinki waved it off. "Your question has merits, Taylor, I can hardly get angry at you for asking that."

"What happened?"

The question came out in a whisper, while she got permission to ask, she was still nervous.

"Let just say that, no matter how you mess with it, nature will always find the way and leave it at that." Shinki replied ominously "The result wasn't pretty. After like the hundred times the civilization ruined by my meddling on this subject, I finally realized that even gods like me have limits."

Taylor's eyebrows shot up slightly at the admission; this wasn't the first time she heard Shinki admitted her incapability of something, so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

The drizzle was the only noise between them for a while before Taylor suddenly had a thought and spoke her mind before she could stop herself; "Then what's a god then if they're incapable?"

Shinki tilted her head slightly, before asking back "There're many definitions of god, Taylor; From primordial gods, born when the universes still young, embodied the primordial aspects of the universe they born in, to gods born out of faith and beliefs of the sapient species and embodiment the definition of 'god' that the believers perceived."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Taylor interrupted "You're saying that 'gods' can be born from the belief of people? Is that mean 'gods' in various religions are real because people believed them to be real?"

"Only if they believed hard enough that their collective unconscious interacted with magic and give birth to one." was Shinki's reply.

Taylor looked skeptical "Is it that easy to give birth to a god?"

Shinki nodded "It's not as hard as you thought, but conversely, this type of gods is also the most vulnerable, for their source of power and their existence comes from their followers. Should the faith and belief in them waned, so too their power. And if those faiths were to change, for lack of a better word, to the point their origins could no longer relate to the current belief, then they would no longer receive any faith and soon will "die" so to speak."

"I… see…" Taylor was surprised by how easy it was to kill a god, and for Shinki to admits it out loud despite being one. "But are you not the type of god that rely on faith? Is it wise to speak about it?"

"You wanted an answer, and I'm in the position to give one, and so I did." Shinki replied casually, before adding; "But this's where you're wrong. While the faith of the people does empower me, I do not rely on one to sustain myself."

A realization hit Taylor at the explanation "You're a primordial god?"

The goddess smiled, shook her head, and answered "I'm no primordial god, Taylor. But I'm a close second. If you know what I mean."

There was a sad vibe in her voice that urged Taylor to be more considerate "Do you miss them? Your peer?"

Any sorrowful look ever been on Shinki's face faded slightly at the question, and her answer lacks the warmth it usually has, but neither it was cold nor uncaring "I wouldn't miss them… It's an unpleasant story… me and those who came before…" she paused for a moment "But I couldn't help but keep wondering from time to time what if things were different back then…"

The last part was drowned out by the drizzle as Shinki lowered her voice down to whisper that Taylor couldn't hear properly. But it was clear enough that there must be some sort of dispute between her and her 'parents' so to speak.

'The more I hear about her past, the more I hear about the similarity between us.'

If it was her boasting, Taylor would've doubted the story she put forth. But the tone she used made it clear that there was nothing boastful about it.

Although she wished to delve into the story of the world's creation from god's perspective, she also instinctively realized that it was probably a bad idea to push further. "I'm sorry."

"Again, with that sorry." Shinki shook her head while letting out a soft chuckle "I've chosen to tell you this, not you forcing me to tell you. You have done nothing wrong."

Shinki paused again while looking upon the cloudy sky above, and then she spoke quietly "Oh, dear, time sure flies isn't it? Why not you stay here for tonight? It was already late as it is. Yumeko wouldn't mind, your bunk in her room is still open."

At the mention of it, Taylor begins to notice the tiredness creeping up on her mind, but she pushed it aside and replied "I appreciate your offer, but I don't want to impose. Ma'am."

Taylor knows that Yumeko would be okay with her staying the night, and Haku, her nemesis, didn't do anything to her at all since the arrangement, she still not want to test it.

Shinki nodded, seemingly resigned "I see, Good night then Taylor."

Taylor canceled her spell and walked toward the center of the tower. Magical circle lit up with power once more, ready to send her back to Yang's house. She turned to face her second mother and mentor before saying good night to the creator and ruler of Makai.

A flash of magical light later, and Taylor found herself staggered to her bed in Yang's house. Once her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep and let that day's discussion to rest for the time being.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I'm wondering if readers found this story too slow and lack of conflict for their taste? Frankly speaking, unless time skip at least four decades, I cannot imagine doing such scenario without feeling the entire thing was forced for the sake of it.


	15. Chapter 14

It's been a long while since the last update. Hope everyone stay safe in this turbulent time.

The company I'm working at moved the office recently, while the travel time isn't that much different than before thanks to the location having better transportation, it's more exhaustive to travel that I desire nothing more than playing a game to blow off stream and go to bed everyday. Oh, well, never mind me, enjoy the new chapter, everyone.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

A month full of rainy days passed by since Taylor's last discussion about gods with Shinki, things went back to relatively normal for a time as she continued on her study of magic and medicine with vigor and diligence.

Yang's compliments about her idea of using magic to assist in acupuncture training motivated Taylor to try using it every opportunity she gets. The results so far were promising, albeit not as ground-breaking as she'd like to think. Mao pointed out that healers that can use magic also doing it all the time, though how they do it varied which surprised Taylor.

"Aren't there an academy that teaches this thing?" Taylor asked one day when they were going out to buy groceries on a rare clear sky day of that season "I mean, we even got an academy in this town. Shouldn't something like that have at least some standard practices?"

"They have to consider people who can't do magic too." was Mao's reply.

"But shouldn't public institute educate people and bring out their potential?" argued Taylor.

At this, the younger girl laughed quite loudly, which drew a couple of heads from the passer-by at her. She realized her mistake quickly though and apologized. The conversation was thus halted until after they hurried down the street.

"Well, sorry for that attention." Mao said unapologetically, and then continue where she left off previously "Well, the academy is putting both magical and non-magical together except for separate magic class. Because there're not that many magic users around."

Taylor glanced at the shadow of another housewife flying over them and replies "But I saw so many people with magic here."

"Uh-huh." the smaller girl shrugged "Thing is people with magic are long-lived and barely age, if at all. When birth rate stays the same and the ratio of people with magic for each generation stays the same but the death rate slowed, what do you think will happen?"

Blinking twice, Taylor spoke the first thing that came to her mind after processing what Mao implied; "Your dad is quite well-versed, isn't he?"

A chuckle escaped Mao's lips, "Yeah, yeah, say that to my dad, not me!" And then she added, "He may not have magic or hailed from land with one, but he did experienced things here far longer than you and me after all."

"I supposed so…"

It wasn't like Taylor could argue that. It was true after all.

They reached the ever-busy market square a little later. Most of the shops were still the same, but several stalls were of the merchants from faraway cities and countries coming to trade with the Pandemonium's population. And as if it was the nature of merchant regardless of the universe; they didn't seek to compete with the local, they instead sell things that couldn't be found on the local shops while sometimes buying the local products that couldn't be found elsewhere in exchange.

The only thing these merchants were lacking was fresh food products from aboard.

"I supposed I'm hoping too much to get something fresh from other countries?"

Taylor's muttering wasn't as quiet as she would hope for, as Mao turned to look at her with a smug smile on her face implied that she knew something she didn't. But it was not hard to guess. "There's imported fresh food too?"

Mao nodded, and then she sighed with a disappointed look on her face; "Yeah, but it's so rare to find anyone that sells them, let alone the good one. Not many magicians pursue the path of becoming a walking refrigerator and warehouse after all."

That quip reminded Taylor of the storage magic that she saw several denizens of the Pandemonium castle use and pondered on it a bit before comments; "I thought that it'd be more commonplace."

Mao gave Taylor a snort; "If you haven't set foot into many academies around the realm, Taylor, I'd think you're playing dumb." She shook her head while they walked past another foreign merchant stall selling porcelain wares with a small crowd of locals looking and bargaining.

Once they were clear of the crowd, she whispered; "Thing is, this town is often called the land of education by other counties, where aspiring scholars and apprentices usually embarked on the state-sponsored journey to study here. Many advancements, magical or technological, came from this town's academy. I think you get what I'm going to say right?"

Taylor was confused and argued a moment later; "But Shinki said that she wanted to teach me herself. Why bother with that if not because the education is so-so?"

"She never said that you going to the academy is a bad idea either, right?"

Mao was perceptive, Taylor thought while nodding, encouraging Mao to bluntly comments; "Your standard is skewed because you have Lady Shinki as your teacher."

Before Taylor could response, they were called by a familiar green-haired monster-in-human-form who posed as a merchant. Mao promptly waved back happily and quickly made her way to the seed and plant stall of that person while dragging Taylor along.

While seeing her once a month at most, Taylor still wondered if Yuuka ever gets bored of wearing the same attire over and over again. But she then doubted that a being with many times the lifespan of a puny human will entertain the same view as her.

Taylor's musing was brought to a halt when Yuuka turned her attention to her after a small talk with Mao; "So, how're you doing these days, little one?"

"I'm fine, thank you for the concern."

Taylor politely replied. While interacting with Yuuka once a month for a whole season has calmed her fear of the latter's not-so-hidden power down, she was still nervous when getting close to a being of such immense power, not counting Shinki, of course.

Yuuka sported a thoughtful look after hearing Taylor's reply. And then, she nailed Taylor's hidden thought right on the head. "You're unsatisfied about some arrangements, but ultimately it's inconsequential and it'd be rude to bother anyone with it, correct?"

Mao turned to look at Taylor with questions on her face as if to help Yuuka pressured her into answering. But that probably be her pessimistic thinking and Taylor quickly put that thought away as she tried to come up with answers.

"I just… want to understand a little…" Finally, she put her thoughts into words, and then she got an idea "…maybe you can help me."

"Oh?"

Taking Yuuka's curious look as permission to continue, Taylor glanced around the market first. Once she saw that no one was listening to them, she asked a question; "How can you change the mind of the people who have lived longer than you so much that they have unfathomable knowledge and experiences compared to you?"

Yuuka's red eyes locked with Taylor's while Mao was listening to the conversation with mild interest as she was busy counting the goods she was ordered to procure. And then after a moment, she let off a chuckle; "Having trouble with a certain guard dog of the Pandemonium, I see… Hakuryu I presume?"

Taylor frowned at the apt-description of the fox but still nodded, and that caused the green-haired woman to widened her smile. "It's not my place to judge the management of the Pandemonium, but let me guess: you've been avoiding confrontation with her since you had a dispute with her, have you not?"

'Nailed it on the head. Are all elderly people in Makai can read people's minds?' Taylor thought but respectfully nodded. It wouldn't do her any good if she made someone many times her senior and power level mad after all.

Yuuka didn't care about what Taylor was thinking as she bluntly spoke up; "Mulling about it in your mind will get you nowhere, just confront her and speak your mind to her face!"

Taylor was rendered speechless for a moment before she protested what she perceived as an outrageous and suicidal plan. "I don't have that overwhelming power to stand against her like you!"

The outburst didn't faze Yuuka as she shrugged "The past Hakuryu will just turn you into a red smear on the floor the moment you disagree with her. Trust me, the Hakuryu now is a big softie compared to her past self. You can talk to her! She won't bite I'm sure."

Taylor wasn't sure why would that be relevant to the conversation, but Yuuka didn't give her a chance to find her response; "Having the strength to fight is all well and good, but what good does that strength do when you can't even gather the courage to face them?"

The only response the maid could do was to mutter a single word in surprise; "What?"

Yuuka walked out of her stall to stand in front of Taylor. Her red eyes looked at Taylor "Have you not heard the tale of the cowardly lion? A lion is considered the king of the beast, yet when plagued by his self-esteem, that strength lost its grandeur." She narrowed her eyes "All martial prowess is the same! If the user doesn't have any courage to face what they fear, then these powers are worthless and might as well not exist at all!"

As Taylor looked at Mao for help, she found that the girl has wandered off to Orthog's stall on the other side without her noticing. While she knew deep inside that Mao was only respecting her privacy and nothing more, she still felt betrayed a little bit.

"Besides, didn't Hakuryu avoid confronting you either?"

The question got Taylor thinking, her ire toward Yuuka forgotten before she shook her head in annoyance; "She's just carrying out Shinki's order to stay away from me."

Taylor aware in her mind that that Shinki never said anything of that sort; she only arranged for her to be living with Yang and Mao to stay away from the castle and only get there during work hours and magic lessons. She never forbids interaction or meeting between the two of them at all as far as she remembered.

"Truly?"

Her hesitation probably shown on her expression, as Yuuka's stare seemed to intensify as if accusing her of lying. Taylor tried to put up resistance, but it was futile. After a minute of intense stare, she relented and mumbled "She made it sounds like one."

Yuuka frowned at the admission before nodding "Be thankful that this's Shinki's domain, little one. If you're in the Eastern Wonderland or my pocket dimension, I'd turn you into an atomic mist for that… misinformation... And most Onis in that world will turn you into fertilizer for that offense too."

Taylor inwardly shuddered, somehow hearing such statement in a matter of fact tone was more terrifying than when said with anger.

Her expression once again betrayed her, as Yuuka giggled at the sight and calmed her down "Relax little one. I'm not the kind of person to fly off the handle and kill people for something that small. But that doesn't mean others wouldn't. So, be careful around other people all right?"

For some reason, Taylor felt that Yuuka intentionally left the advice vague. After all, it could be interpreted as either "Be honest" or "Do not get caught when lying" but she filed it to the back of her mind for the time being.

Yuuka, oblivious to Taylor's thought, continued her persuasion "If Shinki does not forbid you or Hakuryu from interacting, then is that means she wished for you two to reconcile?"

'Obviously.' Taylor thought silently.

Yuuka took that silence as an agreement however and pushed further; "I do not particularly care if the resulting talk between you and Hakuryu will result in anything, but I dislike people who keep running away from a problem that they can solve."

At this point, although Taylor agreed with what Yuuka has said, she still couldn't help but argue, barely suppressed her ire from seeping into her voice; "Back then and now is different."

Yuuka was nonplussed at the display of stubbornness, the façade Taylor put up couldn't fool someone of her experiences and age. But instead of getting annoyed, her lips curled into a smile and chuckled "Save your bravery for facing that white fox, little one. It's meaningless until you can face her and tell her to the face of what you think and what you want."

Taylor guessed from the tone used that the conversation was over. "Thank… I guess…"

That only made the flower seed store owner waved her hand in dismissal "If you want to thank me, do it after you build your courage and confront Hakuryu first."

Glancing around and spotted Mao waving her hand to call her over, Taylor decided that she was overstaying her welcome. She said farewell to the Elder Youkai and retreated before the latter could return the gesture.

As the two girls disappeared into the more crowded section of the square, Yuuka, who was once again alone at her stall, sighed while turning to look in the direction of the Pandemonium castle, as if to talk to the ruler herself.

"You're too soft, you know that?"

Yuuka paused as if waiting for a response that only she could hear before continued; "But who am I to judge? I don't even know what that girl's issue is with that fox is. So, best of luck, eh?"

She shrugged and went back to her stall once she noticed one boy was standing there and shot her a strange look, which she dismissed with a disarming smile "Boy, are you perhaps looking for some seeds or plants? Let me help you…"

* * *

Despite emboldened by Yuuka's words, Taylor didn't immediately wander the castle to seek out her nemesis to settle the score. It took another week of pondering on Yuuka's suggestion before she decided that it was the last day of the week where it was her shift at the castle that she would confront the fox and end it.

Of course, the fox being absent for the entire week running whatever errands for Shinki elsewhere was convenient too.

Taylor took a deep breath as she walked down the tower where her teleportation circle was located. Intending to settle the problem that still plaguing her mind since that day once and for all.

But her effort, unfortunately, was in vain. Despite cleaning and doing chores all around her responsible area for the whole day, there was not a shadow of the fox showing up in her vision. Asking the guards yielded no result as they didn't recall seeing her return.

Taylor kept up her guard the entire shift, but alas, her target never shows up the whole day and she once the shift was over, she headed back to the teleportation circle on the tower in disappointment.

'There's no class with Shinki tonight after all. Better back to sleep.' Taylor thought tiredly, her efforts of keeping her guard up to prepare for the fox while working the entire day was taking its toll on her, even each step upstairs felt like she was lifting a ton of lead despite the workload was the same as other days.

"Maybe the other day then…" Taylor muttered as she pushed the door to the top of the tower open. The sight of the reddish sky has been tarnished by black cloud signifying another rain some time tonight or tomorrow morning greeted her as per usual of this rainy season. But when she tore her wary gaze back to the contraption that will bring her back home, she froze mid-step at the sight that greeted her.

There was a figure in white contrast to the darkness of the sky standing there on top of the magical circle. The blue orbs seem to shine briefly when they found her standing still like a deer in a headlight at the door.

For a minute, the two of them stared, as if sizing each other up for the upcoming inevitable clash, and then the fox woman broke the silence first, speaking in her usual almost emotionless voice; "My men told me that you're looking for me." Her sharp gaze seemingly intensified. "Is there any problem?"

The tone of the question sounded different to Taylor's ears despite the tiredness, and she quickly spun on her heel with the barest hint of ruffling sound. Her fist clenched and stretched outward only to be caught in a vice grip a moment later.

"Your awareness has improved." The woman behind Taylor, or rather the Real Haku, commented as another Haku at the teleportation circle dissolved into light particles which dispersed into the wind "But I doubt that you sought me out only to show this improvement. So, what is it?"

Despite preparing for this eventuality for the whole day, Taylor was still frozen with indecision when her quarry appeared before her. Not just because of fear, but because what she heard from the fox sounded concerned which should be impossible.

After a long minute of silence, she finally said quietly "What… what are you playing at?"

It was brief, but Taylor swore that her eyes shifted to the side and then back in a blink for some reason. She doubted that the fox will answer, and she was tired, so she gets down to business; "What's the problem you have with me? Keep antagonizing me at every turn. What did I do to deserve that?"

She wished she could make her anger and frustration much clearer than that, but this was all she could manage at this point. Was this the fox's plan? Waiting until she exhausted before confronting her?

"You look tired. Should we postpone this for tomorrow? Wherever and whenever you choose. I will be there when the time comes."

Haku's response wasn't one that Taylor expected. Her voice shown concern about her wellbeing which never been there before. What was she doing…

"You're not in a proper state of mind to listen now. Anything I said will be like a dream come the next morning." Haku patiently explained in her usual almost emotionless voice. It made Taylor wary of trickery the fox was trying to pull even though she has a point.

'Wait…' Taylor's tired mind suddenly realizes; 'Why am I meeting her alone up here? I should meet her where everyone can see it, so no excuse for her for… whatever plan she's trying to do…'

"F… fine…" She spoke up finally "Tomorrow… before noon… Yang's house…" Taylor didn't get to finish her demand, as vision blackened and the ground rushed up to meet her, she was saved from impact by a pair of hands that shot up and stop her fall. The last thing she heard was the tail's end of Haku's muttering that sounded like; "…be there."

* * *

Taylor's woke up groggily to the rumble of the red sky signifying another incoming rainfall. She slowly sat up, blinked away her tear while her mind sluggishly rebooted, and tried to find out what happened and where was she.

"You're awake!"

A familiar voice reached her ears and she turned to the side and find that Mao was standing next to her bed, prompting a sleepy response. "What is it, Mao? I'm having a weird dream last night. I don't even remember how I get back here."

"Actually. Haku brought you back here. I and dad were worried that you've overworked yourself to exhaustion back there. But Lady Shinki doesn't seem to be the type."

It took a full minute for that name to slammed Taylor's last night memories back together with the force of a freight train. Taylor was wide awake and rounded on the girl next to her so fast that the latter quickly put her hands on her shoulders to stop her from standing up. "What do you mean Haku brought me back here?"

"Easy there, Taylor." Mao spoke while pushing Taylor to sit down on her bed "She's downstairs with dad. I'm here to look after you until you wake up. Oh, wait here I'll be right back with something to eat!"

Without waiting for a response, Mao bolted for the door and went downstairs, leaving Taylor sitting alone on her bed to collect her thought alone.

'So Haku brought me back here. But why? She's not the type to care, isn't she?'

The contemplation was halted when the sound of heavy footsteps echoed as someone walked up the stairs and approached her room. But when the door flung opened, Taylor let out a breath she was holding as it was only Mao with a bowl porridge, a cup of water, and eating utensils.

"T… Thanks."

Nothing else needs to be said as Mao retreated out of the room and leave Taylor with the food. The pleasant smell brought out a growl from her stomach telling her how hungry she was. With no reason to wait nor suspecting foul play; Taylor dug in and finished it in time before she felt another person approaching her room, and from the presence, it wasn't Mao's.

The door was knocked thrice, and then Haku's monotone voice announced her presence to Taylor "Can I come in?"

Taylor contemplated sending her off by claiming sick but decided against it a moment later when Yuuka's advice came to mind.

"You can come in."

Taylor wanted to put in harsher words just to vent her anger and frustration at the fox, but alas, nothing came out of her mouth as deep down she knew that it was uncalled for after the fox stopped antagonizing her for the last several months and even get her back here instead of leaving her in the castle, according to Mao that is.

The door pushed open silently before Haku, dressed conservatively in her usual blue and white oriental dress, slipped inside and shut the door behind with a click before she walked over to the bed Taylor was sitting on. Her blue eyes glanced at the chair that Mao once sat and then looked at Taylor as if asking for permission, though with that expressionless face of hers, it was hard to tell.

Taylor simply nodded while putting away the empty bowl, letting Haku put the seat on the opposite side of her bed and sat down facing her.

'Is it me hallucinating, or Haku seems calmer?'

Taylor eyed the fox woman with suspicion, albeit not as bad as during the 'Hell's week' which resulted in the current predicament due to what the fox supposedly helped her last night. But she wasn't sure what to say to Haku either; thank her? or continue their conversation from the last night? or… something?

It seems Haku wasn't much better than Taylor at starting a conversation too. And so, the two sat in awkward silence for minutes before Haku broke it first with her usual expressionless face and, if Taylor wasn't imagining it, concern laced in her voice; "How are you doing?"

Taylor wondered how to answer that question. for a moment, before she replied "I'm fine now… thank… you… for the concern…"

The latter half of her response was forced out with great effort, because part of her paranoia, diminished as it be, still whispering in her mind telling her that it was just an act despite the contradictory evidence.

Haku relaxed slightly judging how her ears drooped down instead of perking upright as if listening to something. Then the silence reigned for another minute before Haku broke it with a sigh; "It seems that apology is in order."

She bowed slightly, which surprised Taylor who, from her direct experience and what others talked about, didn't think she was the type to do that to anyone. Maybe it was because Yang told her to do it? But that was improbable because she wouldn't get into this squabble in the first place if that was the case, then what changed the woman's mind?

"It was… I felt restless at the time when the guard said that you were looking for me." Haku admitted with a straight face and voice that perfectly hiding her emotion, but Taylor was starting to feel that the apology was genuine. She still didn't explain the nastiness she displayed during their first meeting, however.

"So, to continue our conversation last night…" Haku finally brought up yesterday's incident "I know what I've done to you is wrong, but I won't make any excuses for something that already done."

"Then why?"

"Because… when I looked into your eyes for the first time, I saw my past self in there."

Haku's reply was a surprise to Taylor; from what interactions they had together, Taylor was certain that they had nothing alike at all.

"I want to ask you a question, Taylor." Haku responded when she saw the look on the younger girl's face and knew exactly what she was thinking "You think that I am a bully correct?"

Seeing the latter nod without hesitation, she asked. "Do you think I was born this way?"

While part of Taylor wanted to say "yes", the memories of betrayal, long since forgotten, surfaced back to her mind once more and she shook her head in response.

Haku closed her eyes, reminiscing of the past; "When I was the same age as you, I was bullied…"

Taylor's eyes widened, but it seems that Haku didn't care about her reaction and continued her tales "It's because of a belief among my kin, not that it was unfounded mind you, that someone with white fur and hair are the weakest. And they could rarely survive past their tenth birthday without dying."

Taylor couldn't imagine someone as strong as Haku being like that in the past at all. That also send a chill down her spine; if someone like Haku was considered a weakling to be bullied, then what kind of a monster her 'normal' kin would be?

Once again, as if reading her thought Haku reminded the girl with a deadpan "Must I repeat myself that I wasn't born strong?"

Taylor had enough decency to mutter a sorry in response, which Haku waved it off "I decided to become the strongest of my clan when my aunt, the only one I counted as family, took pity of me and started training me away from my clan's settlement."

Blue eyes glanced upward to the ceiling, it was the first time Taylor sees Haku reminiscing of her past, but she didn't seem to mind. Haku looked at Taylor straight in the eyes again as she continued "Thousands of years ago, mankind and our civilization weren't as you know in your future world; it was a world of dogs eat dogs, the strongest clan survived while the weak perished." Haku scoffed in disgust "And my clan was no exception. I decided that the best way to shut my family up is to crush the other clans by myself."

At this point, Taylor couldn't help but questioned herself; was her infuriation with heroism up to now was genuine, or it was a way to express something in her, something cultivated by those three bitches like how family abuse cultivated Haku to be a jerk?

Haku continued her story like she was oblivious to Taylor's thought or she didn't care about it "The weak will be purged, and the strongest will thrives, that was the belief I held back then. Women, children, elders, it doesn't matter so long as they were from the rival clans, I exterminated them all for the crime of being a weakling not of my clan."

Taylor felt unnerved by the admission; it was worse than Yang's past, it ranked up there with her bullies in terms of nastiness and cruelty. If this was Taylor when she first arrived, she would've branded Haku as a monster and cut all ties with Shinki for employing someone like her. But now, as she had time to calm down more than half a year, she could at least acknowledge that human at the time was not different than Haku, assuming that the timeline of her world aligned with this version of Earth that is.

Haku's eyes gained a remorseful look as she said the next part of her tales "In doing so, I've become the very thing I despise the most, but at the time I was intoxicated by the control I had over my life for the first time that all this flew over my head."

Taylor wasn't sure if that was meant to be a warning or not, but she knew it in her gut that the woman wasn't lying so far.

Haku let out a huff, not of arrogance, but disappointment. However, whether that disappointment was directed at the people of the distant past or herself, Taylor wasn't so sure; "Unfortunately, my actions were not well-received, those of my clan were unnerved of my rise of power and in their foolish pride and fear collaborated with other clans to have me and my aunt who taught me killed. And I guess you know how that went considered that I'm the only one standing here right now."

It wasn't a hard guess "A Trojan Horse…" Taylor muttered, which earned an affirmative nod from Haku, prompting her to ask "Is this supposed to be the lesson?"

"More than just getting drunk on power…" Haku replied calmly, slipping back into her neutral mask once more. Despite the earlier display of emotion, Taylor still feeling slightly unnerved at the woman as she explained "As I told you before; there're many types of weaklings out there. But there're many types of braveries as well. Your resolve to brave the violence is not in my question, as you demonstrated when we met back then…"

Taylor winced and avoided eye contact with the woman at the mention of her outburst from Haku's remarks back then. Now that her head was cooler, she could see why it was a shameful display on her part.

Haku waited until Taylor composed herself and look at her again before continued; "…however, it is pointless to turn to the outside threat when the inside is still in turmoil, as my experience could attest." she then added; "Without saying too much, I'd tell you about the strongest enemy anyone has to face isn't some supervillains or evil overlords hell-bent on domination or extermination of all good, and this enemy is very close to all of us."

Taylor looked confused over her words, but Haku kept her silence after that and won't elaborate. The maid pondered the rest of the conversation for a long while before she glared at the fox and ground out; "You could just tell me this back then instead of handing me that stupid, rigged test."

Haku nodded and questioned back calmly; "I didn't listen to my aunt when I went off to eliminate other clans back then, so I doubt that you'd settle with just a word from a stranger like me."

Taylor frowned, while part of her wanted nothing more than tell Haku to get out of her room, another part told her to be reasonable, going so far as to said that she was better than those staff in Winslow already, albeit that wasn't a high bar to cross.

"Maybe you're right, maybe you're not…" Taylor finally spoke up after thinking a bit, her face settled in a frustrated scowl "I have to wonder how Yang put up with you."

Her scathing remark didn't draw any reaction from Haku except a silent deadpan. And it was enough to tell Taylor to drop the subject. Her mother taught her better than to pry someone's secret, especially when it involved someone she's in debt with like the old man and his daughter who were probably down in the clinic below.

And it was this feeling of indebting that pushed her to give Haku a chance.

"Anyway," Taylor changed the subject after her minds finished warring on what to do next, her tone takes on a slightly friendlier tone, "I think that we should start things over, now that there are no more pressing matters that you have to juggle around…"

Her sudden change of mood caused Haku to raise her eyebrows a little but didn't reply, prompting Taylor to offered her a hand and asked cheerily "So, my name is Taylor Hebert, please to meet you and hope we can become a good acquaintance in near future."

The surprise etched on Haku's face and the widened blue eyes were more than enough to convince Taylor that at the very least her bravery was worth it to see Haku's mask breaking down like that. But part of her still wondered whether Haku will return the offer of goodwill or not.

Haku brought her mood under control a moment later when she realized that Taylor was watching. She glared at the cheeky brat but said glare didn't look intimidating at all in Taylor's opinion, not after seeing her shocked expression earlier.

After a moment of tense silence, Haku's glare visibly softened as she muttered "You're just as stubborn as I was back then…"

And it was Taylor's turn to surprise when Haku's hand shot out and grabbed the offered hand without warning. The grip wasn't painful like she was half-expected the fox to try and get back at her, and when she looked up from her hand at Haku again, she swore that she saw the fox's lips curved up a little bit and even her voice gained a warmer tint;

"Very well, I, Haku, am pleased to meet you. Hopefully, we'll get acquainted in time."

Taylor's smile widened a little as she realized that the elders she met in this world were right about the fox she was shaking hand with all along…

This didn't mean she'd forget what Haku has done, just forgive her. Only time will tell if they will become closer in the future…

* * *

**Author's Note:** I believe that since we do not see anything from Haku's perspective during the time Taylor was with Yang so the change of heart (kind of) may come off as strange. But as Taylor had time to cool her head off with Yang for almost half a year, Haku too has time to ponder thing when she wasn't busy for half a year as well.


End file.
